What Is Causing The Current Dramatic Increase In Child Obesity?

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With rates for obesity continuing to rise in the West it is no surprise that we are seeing a growing number of obese children. Of course the effects of childhood obesity are all too obvious, but just what is it that results in childhood obesity?

As is so often the case there is no single cause of child obesity and there are a variety of factors that lead to obesity in children.

It is usually the case for instance that a child whose parents are overweight or obese will be overweight which suggests that there could well be an inherited or genetic element to obesity. But, although this is an area which is currently being studied, no genetic link has yet been established and it is felt much more likely that it is the eating habits of the family which produce obesity rather than genetics.

We have experienced a considerable change in eating habits over recent years with fast food restaurants springing up on every street corner, junk food widely available and the shelves of our supermarkets growning under the weight of ‘convenience’ foods which are more often than not very high in sugar. The days of home cooked meals are long gone in many households and have been replaced by take-away food or microwave meals. Indeed, more and more parents are now electing to take their children out to eat instead of cooking meals at home not just because it is simpler than cooking a meal but also because it saves a lot of washing up!

In addition, we have seen a dramatic drop in levels of activity for many groups of children, aided in no small degree by the arrival of computers, video gaming machines and now the ubiquitous mobile phone. Not surprisingly, as activity levels have dropped so children have lost their natural ability to burn off the calories gained from eating more and more junk food.

Television, the Internet, magazines and other forms of media also play a role as they all but dominate the lives of our kids and junk food, fast food and confectionary manufacturers are not slow in jumping onto this particular bandwagon and make full use of the advertising opportunity provided by the media. Many people would argue that commercials have done more to fuel the increase in childhood obesity than almost anything else in the last few years.

There are also many psychological factors at play in today’s world and a significant number of children today simply eat as a result of boredom. What is more, they will turn to food if they find themselves angry, stressed, depressed or anxious.

At the moment a lot of medical research is being directed towards the cause of child obesity and its treatment and much of this is aimed at solving the problem using diet and exercise once confronted with an obese child. But, with child obesity continuing to rise at an alarming rate, and with the obvious dangers of childhood obesity, perhaps it is now time to attack the roots of the problem and to prevent our children from suffering from obesity in the first place.