Childhood Obesity in the United States

Introduction

One of the growing problems in United States is the increasing population of children who are facing the problems of obesity. Obesity is described to have an impact on the lifestyle, health, and social life of young people. Children, who do not practice the healthy behavior such as exercise, have the potential to gain excess weight that leads to obesity. The impact of obesity is however, related to the costs placed on the huge burden in the economy in United States. The trends of obesity appeared in all children and significantly occurred in all age, race, and ethnic groups through the US.

The rationale of the study came from the children with obesity having the social disposition. In addition, the paper is meant to produce the ideas regarding the issues of multiculturalism, diversity, and stereotyping. The most common medium that can deliver the obvious social effects on obese children is the media. Through the use of the theories in societies, the paper can distinguish the influence of media on children.

Diversity and Multiculturalism

Diversity defines a variety of individuals (or objects) depending on their opinions, color, and style. The typical type of diversity is cultural diversity which creates a barrier and isolation from the society. People often look for diversification because of the appearance of others, different from what is in the social norm or what is expected. On the other hand, the theory of cultural formation delivers the idea of multiculturalism. The social speculations affect the individual’s ability to promote his own growth. Accordingly, multiculturalism struggles along the context of globalization. It becomes problematic in a way, as illustrated in the majority of the common culture compared to the migrant cultures (San Juan, 2003). In relation to the problems of children with obesity, instead of comparison between the ethnicity and culture, obese children are compared to other children who are normal according to their BMI (Body Mass Index) and age.

Media

There is a negative stereotyping for both obese children and youth. The increase in obesity prevalence, there is a comparison between the group of heaviest children and leanest group. The argument is that, heaviest children continuously getting heavier while the leanest group of children stays lean (Institute of Medicine, 2004). The media contributes a lot in the social interaction of children because of the wide range of broadcasting. The issues of obesity as mirrored in the news pertain mostly on the negative effects among children, saying that it has emerging serious threats to the future and health of nation. Childhood obesity can potentially shorten their lives as compared to their parents’ lifespan (American Heart Association, 2005). This kind of attack of media resembles the amount of attention given by media towards the risks of obesity.

Media can rely on the issues of stereotyping in two ways – one is to isolate the children with obesity problems and the other is focusing on the effective ways on how to help the children fight such kind of disease. Through the promotions of healthier foods and beverages as marketed to children using the popular movies or famous actors, the elements of essential information is directly delivered. In addition, the continuous promotion of messages and public education to find solution in the growing population of obesity is important to regulate the evolution of health risks (WFA, 2008). Media can use their powers to implement the information of children in both positive and negative ways. However, if the media (e.g. television shows) translate the existence of an obese child in a show, they were often mocked by their playmates because of their features. This typical idea suggests that stereotyping of the children that shows obese problems leads to social isolation. Also, this promotes the low self-esteem of children and their physical insecurities that might affect their social participation.

Conclusion

As part of the actions and initiatives of the companies, there is a recognizable effort regarding the combination of technologies and innovation. The media is part of society to educate the children and adolescents about the importance of healthy eating and exercise. The devotion of media’s attention, in particular, is to aim among the other populations that are disproportionately affected by childhood overweight and obesity. On the other hand, the effectiveness of the campaigns and researches educate and motivate the children in engaging themselves in a healthier lifestyle. The media can minimize the effects of obesity among children by creating information that can stimulate their social interaction in order to reduce the population of obese children.

References:

American Heart Association, (2005) A Nation at Risk: Obesity in the United State A Statistical Sourcebook, Accessed 13 July 2010, from http://www.americanheart.org/downloadable/heart/1114880987205NationAtRisk.pdf

Institute of Medicine, (2004) Childhood Obesity in the United States: Facts and Figures, Accessed 13 July 2010, from http://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/Data/Texts/IOM_ChildhoodObesityFactsAndFigures.pdf

San Juan, Jr. E., (2003) Challenging the Theory and Practice of Contemporary American Studies, The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 25:303–333, Accessed 13 July 2010, from http://www.bulatlat.com/news/4-1/3-50SANJuan.pdf

WFA, (2008) Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents, World Federation of Advertisers, Accessed 13 July 2010, from http://www.pana.com.ph/docs/Marketing-Food-to-Children-and-Adolescents.pdf

Extent of Eating Disorder

PROLOGUE

Eating Disorders are silent killers that crawling beneath the society. Most common victims are the young girls usually in puberty stage, the age where they are striving to be like somebody and idolize fashion models or celebrities and want to be like them, very thin. Oftentimes, the teenage girls felt ugly and shame about their figure, and thinking that they are fat even though they are not.

Society is causing a negative impact on teenagers; they are acquiring the wrong values from the media and take celebrities as their role model of success. Parents have to make their child aware of this problem and its consequences.

The young girls are aiming for a body in a wrong way. They are trapped in the “ideal feminine” and most of them are not aware of the danger that it will bring in their health. The search for a place where they feel like they are accepted will only leads to a depression that not all the girls able to escape. The teenagers that are involved in this addiction or bad habits also lose their capacity to think well.

Most of the girls dreamed of having the “Barbie Figure” that is clearly unreachable to whatever extent of studies. The phobia in food is unexplainable. Foods are basic necessity to keep the body alive and full of energy to perform every task of the day.

Most of the countries, especially in the Western part are having a hard time to destroy the bad ritual. But the battle of the society is not yet through now that men are also addicted on neglecting food habits. There are many celebrities who are known involved in this bad habit and they survived. They managed to get out of the figure that slowly committing their death. And by their help, the battle against the silent killer starts.

EATING DISORDERS

There are various types of eating disorders and the study involves the most common eating disorders:

Anorexia nervosa: A term meaning "lack of appetite"; an eating disorder marked by a person's refusal to maintain a healthy body weight through restricting food intake or other means.

Binge-eating disorder: An eating disorder that involves repetitive episodes of binge eating (when an individual eats, in a particular period of time, an abnormally large amount of food) in a restricted period of time over several months.

Bulimia nervosa: A term that means literally "ox hunger"; an eating disorder characterized by a repeated cycle of bingeing and purging (when a person gets rid of the food that she has eaten by vomiting, taking an excessive amount of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas or engaging in fasting and/or excessive exercise).

FACTORS OF EATING DISORDERS

There are many factors that contributes the eating disorder of one person:

Biological Factors

For example, if a person has a relative in her immediate family with an eating disorder, she is at a higher risk to develop an eating disorder. This is because these behaviors can change an individual's chemical balance, particularly brain chemistry. Starvation and overeating leads to the production of brain chemicals that induce feelings of peace and euphoria (happiness). These good feelings mask feelings of anxiety and depression, both of which are commonly experienced by people suffering from eating disorders.

Psychological Factors

People suffering from eating disorders share many of the same personality traits. For example, eating-disordered people lean toward being perfectionists. Furthermore, many of them suffer from feelings of low self-esteem, despite their accomplishments and perfectionist ways. Extremist thinking, too, is present in many people with eating disorders. These individuals assume that if being thin is "good" then being even thinner is better. This leads to the thought that being the thinnest is the absolute best; it is this thinking that pushes some anorectics to plummet to body weights of fifty or sixty pounds.

Social Factors

The media bombard people with the virtues and importance of being thin. It is endlessly implied in television shows, movies, and advertisements that thinness will bring a person success, power, approval, popularity, friends, and romantic relationships. Women, in particular, are held to an almost-impossible-to-achieve standard of physical fitness and beauty, the height of which is being slender and thin. Because of these media messages, and correlating comments from young women about their weight and body shape, a link between eating disorders and social pressures can be established.

Family Factors

Families contribute to an individual's emotional growth. If someone is raised in a dysfunctional family, she may have feelings of abandonment and loneliness. Certain families have dynamics in which rigidity, over protectiveness, and emotional distance is commonplace. If parents make all of a child's decisions for her, when she gets to adolescence and needs to make decisions for herself, she may find the controlling of her food as a freedom that she haven’t experienced when she was young.

PERSONAL FACTORS

This often begins in late adolescence or early adulthood — transitional periods that are often accompanied by increasing peer pressure, dieting and emotional upheaval. Bulimia is more common in college students than in adolescents:

Dieting - People who lose weight are often reinforced by positive comments from others and by seeing their own changing appearance. Children who diet are more likely than those who don't to develop an eating disorder such as bulimia.

Puberty - Some adolescents have trouble coping with the changes their bodies go through during puberty. They also may face increased peer pressure and may have a heightened sensitivity to criticism or even casual comments about their weight or body.

Transitions - Whether it's heading off to college, moving, landing a new job or a relationship breakup, change can bring emotional distress. One way to cope, especially in situations that may be out of someone's control, is to latch on to something that you can control, such as eating. Excessive control over eating can lead to eating disorders.

Sports, work and artistic activities - Athletes, actors and television personalities, dancers, and models are at higher risk of eating disorders. Eating disorders are particularly common among ballerinas, gymnasts, runners and wrestlers. Coaches and parents may contribute to eating disorders by suggesting that young athletes lose weight.

IMPACT ON SOCIETY

Thousands of teenagers die each year due to anorexia and eating disorders and society plays an important role to help solve this growing problem and make adolescents aware of the dangers. To see the anorexia nervosa impact and damage on society, it’s enough to see the death statistics and emotional problems that they have to understand how severe it is. There are groups of people especially online that support anorexia nervosa as a lifestyle and they give tips and advice to them to hide their problem from their family and keep a rigorous diet. The consequence is that adolescents start dieting and exercising with obsession, to the point that they starve themselves and hurt their body.

CONSEQUENCES

The society, according to certain research, is the main reason why the people practice the vicious addiction. In terms of economy, the potential manpower in the near future of one certain country had a more instance to lose the percentage of their population. The society itself is not an exemption from the eating disorders problem. The politicians, entertainers, doctors, and many other professionals practice eating disorders in a way that they are not aware. The available help is not by simple medication through medicine but the patients who suffer from different eating disorders must seek psychological help. The urge to heal their eating habits must start from the person involved in it. The society that is the main character of the domino blaming must imposed advisory regarding the eating disorders.

CONCLUSION

The eating disorders can generally create many consequences in the society. These consequences involves the drastically growth in mortality rate. The most common victims of this silent killer are mostly women in their adolescence stage. The term silent killer is used because many women are engaged to this kind of ritual eating. The society doesn’t know how many women are silently committing the eating disorder and reports usually appear when one is in the brink of death. It is alarming that there are a clans or group that are imposing or rather, encouraging the teenagers to avoid the food intake. And it is sad to know that the society is aware of this but can’t do any to prevent the people for this kind of addiction.

The society had a tremendous difficulty in facing many issues and add to their list is the bad habits of eating. There are different terms used in this context; eating disorders, bad eating, vicious addiction, ritual habit, and so on; still there’s only one word to point it out. DISORDER. From the word itself, no one needs to justify it further. If a person felt the start of having this kind of disorder, whether eating, sleeping or worst mental disorder, then this person must seek for a professional help.

It is not a form of embarrassment to run for help, at least you are aware that you have a problem and you run to a good person that can offer the specific help that you need. There are only few people who survived in this kind of addiction and they extend their hand to help the others who are trapped in the “Barbie Doll Figure”.

REFERENCES:

Andrew, R. "Anorexia Nervosa Impact On Society." Anorexia Nervosa Impact On Society. 16 Jan. 2008. EzineArticles.com. Available at: [Accessed 22 July 2009].

“Eating Disorders Information.” [Online] (Accessed November 1, 1999). Also available at: [Accessed 22 July 2009].

Bulimia Nervosa. 22 Feb. 2008. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). CNNHealth.com. Available at: [Accessed 22 July 2009].