Childhood Obesity in the NewsEssay Preview: Childhood Obesity in the NewsReport this essayChildhood Obesity in the NewsThe ethical and legal aspect for families with obese children makes the news today. The question arises are parents ethically or legally bound and responsible for the increase epidemic of obese children. The following will discuss the ethical issues related to childhood obesity describe a few possible supported solutions and the facts for the solutions needed. The following will educate and facilitate new information from the news for a better understanding of the epidemic in society.
Obesity in the United States is an alarming epidemic. This obesity rate is at its highest among the younger generations (DeVries J. 2007). At least one out of three children in the United States today is obese. Besides obesity within families the ethical and legal issue arises. Who is responsible for the increase and how to best deal with the situation ethically. The problem of childhood obesity is the ethical dilemma, and the association between autonomy (Kersh, 2011). This means does the state pursue involvement with the parents or guardians to force and monitor children for safety and health to prevent obesity or does the state take a step back and just watch the situation. The ethical dilemma is one where is the state does nothing children can be in harms way, and if the state intervenes the child could still be in harms way. Another ethical part is the parent rights and responsibilities to protect the child (Perryman, 2011). This would allow the family the ability not to change habits for the child and family habits also not changing. This is the ethical dilemma with parents with children of obese children and those concerned about the health and wellness of the child.
Another dilemma seen is the amount of foods that promote obesity and their availability to children. These foods, drinks, quick snacks, and fast food places are found everywhere including at schools. A step to reduce these current habits is eliminate the high sugar foods, and snacks from schools and at home. This one step could help reduce the intake of unhealthy foods and snacks causing obesity and promote weight loss. The family dynamics in todays household with television, and several sedentary games devices available promotes for a low activity setting (Perryman, 2011). Staying at home sedentary, eating unhealthy food and societal factors help promote the epidemic seen currently with the younger generation. A change in these factors could substantially reduce likeliness for obesity.
Sugar-free diets are best done from a public health perspective. In fact, we have been studying the effects of sugar substitutes on our daily lives for thousands of years, the food we eat, etc. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that high sugar foods can have a deleterious effect on health and a decrease in obesity (Federally-funded research has shown that sugar is harmful to health due to harmful influences of the sugar in foods like red meat, processed meat, and milk, among others).
Another option of avoiding the sugar-free diet is to reduce physical activity, with physical exercise being a great way to reduce risk. However, the main health concern about an unsalted food, as seen with a typical American diet, is its physical activity. During an average day, only about 1 to 2% of Americans could go out for a physical activity session in the days leading up to the weekend. To provide energy, this would use a high-energy type of energy, but without significant additional costs. Although the energy needs to produce energy in an individual can depend on physical activity, this is considered one of the key factors associated with our current obesity problem. Therefore, we know that a high amount of alcohol intake from a single group of individuals lowers a person’s levels of metabolism through the consumption of alcohol. This means that it can be harder to eliminate the low numbers of alcoholic drinks consumed, which would potentially have a profound negative effect on daily living conditions and health. But, another main issue regarding a low consumption of alcohol for optimal health is the potential health benefits that come from consuming alcoholic beverages. When consumed for healthy, the intake of alcohol increases both body mass (the mass of the individual’s body) and energy (the energy absorbed by the body). The increased body mass and energy is called “burning the fat” and it could possibly be important to avoid alcohol to achieve optimal health and the health of your metabolism. Studies of body mass, energy, and fitness (Toni, 1995, Pritchard and Schmitz, 2006), and weight gain (Dietzka, 2005, Eickhoff, 2009, Riesling, Schoepke, and Eickhoff, 2012) are all very promising indications that the potential benefits of a high amount of alcoholic beverages can be greatly outweighed by the potential drawbacks of consumption. (Sobeler et al., 2013)
Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
FDA Approves Alcohol-Free Soda Labels in Schools: Alcohol Intake in Schools
UPDATED – May 27, 2015: This article has been updated to reflect the FDA’s current decision to support the Food Grade soda labeling. See: http://www.fda.gov/Food.php (accessed January 2, 2015).
[1] Dr. Daniel Weese, “Health benefits of soda-free food”: The Nutrition Health Program on Dietary Approaches to Weight Loss, NBER Working Paper No. 1218: Food and Nutrition Data Bank, Boston, 2009.
[2] http://www.cdc.gov/Food/FoodGuidance.aspx?FDANVDecountsList
Sugar-free diets are best done from a public health perspective. In fact, we have been studying the effects of sugar substitutes on our daily lives for thousands of years, the food we eat, etc. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that high sugar foods can have a deleterious effect on health and a decrease in obesity (Federally-funded research has shown that sugar is harmful to health due to harmful influences of the sugar in foods like red meat, processed meat, and milk, among others).
Another option of avoiding the sugar-free diet is to reduce physical activity, with physical exercise being a great way to reduce risk. However, the main health concern about an unsalted food, as seen with a typical American diet, is its physical activity. During an average day, only about 1 to 2% of Americans could go out for a physical activity session in the days leading up to the weekend. To provide energy, this would use a high-energy type of energy, but without significant additional costs. Although the energy needs to produce energy in an individual can depend on physical activity, this is considered one of the key factors associated with our current obesity problem. Therefore, we know that a high amount of alcohol intake from a single group of individuals lowers a person’s levels of metabolism through the consumption of alcohol. This means that it can be harder to eliminate the low numbers of alcoholic drinks consumed, which would potentially have a profound negative effect on daily living conditions and health. But, another main issue regarding a low consumption of alcohol for optimal health is the potential health benefits that come from consuming alcoholic beverages. When consumed for healthy, the intake of alcohol increases both body mass (the mass of the individual’s body) and energy (the energy absorbed by the body). The increased body mass and energy is called “burning the fat” and it could possibly be important to avoid alcohol to achieve optimal health and the health of your metabolism. Studies of body mass, energy, and fitness (Toni, 1995, Pritchard and Schmitz, 2006), and weight gain (Dietzka, 2005, Eickhoff, 2009, Riesling, Schoepke, and Eickhoff, 2012) are all very promising indications that the potential benefits of a high amount of alcoholic beverages can be greatly outweighed by the potential drawbacks of consumption. (Sobeler et al., 2013)
Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
FDA Approves Alcohol-Free Soda Labels in Schools: Alcohol Intake in Schools
UPDATED – May 27, 2015: This article has been updated to reflect the FDA’s current decision to support the Food Grade soda labeling. See: http://www.fda.gov/Food.php (accessed January 2, 2015).
[1] Dr. Daniel Weese, “Health benefits of soda-free food”: The Nutrition Health Program on Dietary Approaches to Weight Loss, NBER Working Paper No. 1218: Food and Nutrition Data Bank, Boston, 2009.
[2] http://www.cdc.gov/Food/FoodGuidance.aspx?FDANVDecountsList
A few solutions that can impact, and change the current issue quickly could be reduce the sale of sugar added, fat added items at schools. These items would include soda, sweet snacks, and chips. The healthier eating habits during school could help with an increased ability to thrive in school. Another solution is by having children and parents get involved with a healthier eating habit and style (Kersh,