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What Everybody Should Know About Childhood Obesity

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Childhood obesity has been rising continuously in the US--something that has been confusing and surprising professionals from all fields. Of course, it doesn't help matters that almost all liquid beverages (and even solid foods) sold within the United States contain high levels of high fructose corn syrup. But that is an issue for another time. Obese children almost seem like they never had a chance at life,
and we feel that is a sad testimony. Kids with childhood obesity are forced to deal with emotional abuse in the form of taunts and harsh words from their peers and physical problems like constant joint and back pain, arthritis and sometimes even Type II diabetes. There is more to think about in terms of this sad state of affairs and we'll talk about some of that in the following paragraphs.

Hypertension or high blood pressure is almost synonymous with obesity regardless of age. While there are some severe medical conditions won't be seen in childhood obesity sufferers while there are some others are a lot more likely to show up. High blood pressure is just one of the conditions that happens quite a lot to kids who are severely overweight or obese. Not only is there physical stress put on the body from the extra weight; there is intense psychological stress as well. Sufferers of childhood obesity regularly are subjected to both verbal and physical abuse from other kids. So all of that adds up to a chronically high stress situation which also contributes to the formation of high blood pressure.

Every person who suffers from obesity usually suffers from a variety of psychological issues too. When it feels like all of the kids around you are mean to you every day that can cause stress, low self esteem low self confidence and even make the child hate him or herself. These are silent problems that obese kids and teens often endure all by themselves. If the situation gets severe enough and goes on long enough the child may even start to develop sociopathic behaviors. There is no real data about how many obese high school students who then go on to college. Our guess is that the number is relatively small and that there are quite a lot more obese high school kids than college kids. Would that really be surprising since so many are probably worried about enduring even more years of torture and abuse?

The prospects for an obese child do not appear to be very promising for many reasons. When an obese young child becomes an adult there is a huge list of health risks, as well as diseases, that the child faces. What about the possibility of reversing the obese condition?

Thanks to results we can see that obese teenagers are 16x more likely to become severely obese adults. For those teens, this is clearly not a good thing. Since the risk factors are actually developing when they are young, they are looking at a severely diminished quality of life as an adult.

Obviously, by the time they have reached this condition, these kids are at a tremendous social and physical disadvantage. We all know that it is difficult to lose weight and that the only way to truly make it happen is when you have a high level of determination and support to make it happen. Friends and parents need to be as supportive as possible. Young adults and kids alike are resilient people and have an easier time bouncing back once healthy directions have been taken. Of course, this still depends on whether or not there are any severe medical problems present.

About the Writer: Amy Chang is a food preparation expert who teaches consumers tips to buy the greatest best rated rice cooker and gives unbiased tips on preparing food and acquiring the top cooking gadgets to meet your food preparation desires.

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