Teenage Obesity an Overview

Since the late 1990’s, there has been a striking increase of obesity in the American population, irrespective of age, based on information gathered and analyzed by the Center for Health Statistics.

Nearly 10 million (15%) children between 6 and 19 years of are overweight, and this figure is still rising according to data accumulated between 1999 and 2000 (triple the number of 1980). The data has as well established that an additional 15% of children between 6 and 19 are running a high risk of turning overweight as well.

Obesity is characterized as having an unreasonable accumulation of adipose tissue (fat) resulting in a 20% or more body weight than the ideal body weight. So those individuals, whose weight is higher than what is the ideal range, are categorized as being overweight or obese. Obesity is the most common eating disorder associated with teens.

While teenagers may have less weight associated health issues than grownups, those teenagers that are overweight at present are a great deal more likely to be overweight as adults also. Teens who are overweight (in reality people of all age groups that are overweight) are at higher risk from a large number of serious health issues, including:

1. Heart conditions

2. Diabetes

3. Hypertension

4. Cerebrovascular accidents (strokes)

5. Some types of Cancer

Teenagers who are obese are not just physically unfit, but their health is generally very low as well. A lot of obese people also incline to have a shorter life expectancy than those who maintain a correct body weight for their body size. Additionally, excess weight could result at some social hindrances and unhappiness, which could in turn cause a lot of stress and even mental illness in some cases.

A scientific study that was carried and details were published in May 2004 indicated that overweight children are a lot more likely to be the victims of bullyragging than those children who are of a normal body weight. But they are not only the victims of intimidation; they might be the culprits as well. Growth of personal identity and body image is a significant destination for any adolescent.

The main reason for teenage obesity is imbalances in energy intake (through calories from food) and the energy released from their bodies (through physical activity). More often than not, when teens are overweight, there is a problem with the nutritional value of their diet.

Commonly, children run a risk of becoming overweight if both of their parents are overweight. Though, in a small number of instances this might be due to strong genetic factors, or a rare form of disease, mostly, generational modeling of parental eating and/or physical activity habits is the reasons.

Usually, an American child will spend a few hours every day viewing television or computing. Compare this to days gone, when spare time would have been rather used in doing some kind of physical activity instead.

There are a large number of teenagers and also children who are already overweight or obese, as they are using very little energy, and oftentimes consume high calorie snacks while watching television or playing on the computer.

Recently, in 2008, scientific published information in the US shows that, only 1/3 of primary school children take out some class of physical educational activity, and less than 1/5 take part in physical activity programs after any school day.

Lately, scientific data has indicated that heredity could shape body composition. It was determined that children born to overweight mothers found to be to a lesser extent active, and oftentimes gain more weight by 3 months of age compared to those children born to mothers who have a normal weight, which indicates a potential inherent driving force to preserve energy.

teenage obesity

The information, suggestions, and research described herein are intended to be purely educational. They are not intended to replace the services and advice of your physician. Read more….