Running Head: HEALTH RISKS AND OBESITY 2
Running Head: HEALTH RISKS AND OBESITY
Health Risks in Children and Adolescents
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Health complications and diseases span across all the age brackets. Obesity, a condition in which a person accumulates too much fat. This excess fat may have deleterious effects on the health of the person. An individual whose body weight is above 20% of the healthy body weight is said to be obese. Obesity is a result of diverse factors. These factors include lack of regular or no physical exercise, overeating or eating of unhealthy foods, and genetic inheritance. Studies and research show that children and adolescents are at a higher risk of being obese. This paper discusses some of the objectives outlined in Healthy People 2020 to deal with this issue of obesity.
Obesity is also a result of people living unhealthy lives and eating unhealthy foods. One of the goals stated in Healthy People 2020 is to increase the people’s access to healthy foods. Research shows that many of the people in the States lead an unhealthy lifestyle. To reduce and eliminate this problem, Healthy People aims at increasing the number of States with access to healthy foods and beverages outlets. One of the main reasons why people opt for unhealthy foodstuffs is due to food insecurity. Healthy People 2020 gives an objective of eliminating food insecurity hence reducing hunger.
One of the major causes of obesity in children is taking excess amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages and foods (Qi et al., 2012). These foods are readily available in the schools in which they are studying. One of the primary goals of Healthy People is to reduce the availability of these sugar-sweetened foodstuffs in schools. Another objective to reduce obesity is to increase the availability of learning institutions that require selling of healthy foods and fruits along with the calorie-sweetened drinks.
Community nurses offer great help when it comes to implementing these objectives. Studies show that most people eat unhealthy food without knowing. Nurses could provide these people with education on how to lead healthy lives. One of the purposes stated in Healthy People 2020 is increasing the number of care physicians to check the BMI of children and also the adolescents occasionally. This task would best fit the community nurses.
In conclusion, it is clear that lifestyle is a prominent contributor to obesity. To achieve the objectives discussed above, individuals affected by obesity need to play an active role. Unless an individual is willing to live a healthier life, these goals may never reach implementation.
References
Mead, E., Brown, T., Rees, K., Azevedo, L. B., Whittaker, V., Jones, D., … & Beardsmore, E. (2017). Diet, physical activity and behavioral interventions for the treatment of overweight or obese children from the age of 6 to 11 years. The Cochrane Library.
Qi, Q., Chu, A. Y., Kang, J. H., Jensen, M. K., Curhan, G. C., Pasquale, L. R., … & Chasman, D. I. (2012). Sugar-sweetened beverages and genetic risk of obesity. New England Journal of Medicine, 367(15), 1387-1396.