Childhood obesity
For my brief analysis I chose to focus on the articles on childhood obesity. It is the condition where young children gain excess amount of body fat, usually due to a caloric imbalance, which subsequently affects the health and well-being of said child (Hodgson, 2013). A variety of genetic, behavioral and environmental factors also contributed to the development of the disease. It is diagnosed by calculating the amount of fat that a child has, via the BMI measurement. The term obesity for children is often viewed as nugatory and stigmatizing so the word over weight is commonly used. Over the past decade, the rates of obese children have been steadily rising; it has doubled in children and tripled in adults. The Causes of Childhood Obesity: A Survey (2013). says that “The authors suggested that soft drinks consumption is influenced by children’s overweightness and negatively associated with degree of unhappiness”.
Therefore, needless to say, it has become a major public health concern and thus very news worthy. Adverse health effects of childhood obesity include the increased likelihood of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, pre diabetes which may later develop into full blown diabetes, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems and a myriad of psychological and emotional problems such as deep depression and stigmatization. These effects transit into adulthood because an obese child is more likely to become an obese adult. Obese adults suffer a host of problems such as type two diabetes, osteoarthritis and they are also more susceptible to the different types of cancer. They suffer from cardiovascular problems, strokes, heart attacks as well as myeloma and lymphoma. The center for disease control in conjunction with the government has embarked on intensive campaigns to sensitize the public on this growing concern, but their efforts have had contrasting results.
Since obesity has to do with the body image of an individual, it is a very touchy subject. In a society where thin is beautiful, overweight children are often teased and stigmatized by their peers. This leads to deep depression in the children and they binge eat to cope, thus worsening the problem. Eating disorders become common in young obese girls as they endeavor to lose the weight just to fit in. The overweight are often shunned and treated with contempt and because obesity is a lifestyle disease, it is not treated with the seriousness it preempts.
Childhood obesity and obesity in general has become a widely discussed topic in recent years. Various studies have been conducted; various newspaper articles have been published on the same. I have based my brief analysis on five particular articles; research papers published by the journal of economic surveys and articles published by various newspapers like national post.
‘Causes of childhood obesity’ and ‘Raising healthy children: Moral and political responsibility for childhood obesity’ by Megan Purcell ‘are research papers. They are a compilation of published findings of a survey. They are systematic and well organized. A team of competent and experienced researchers collected data via a host of different methods and analyzed it to establish the occurring trends which are empirically represented in the articles. The persons who took place in the study remain anonymous in accordance to the confidentiality clause established in research (Hodgson, 2013). The findings published by the articles are backed up by a myriad of numerical statistics. Earlier statistical findings from former surveys are also included to aid in the comparison ad to clearly show the growing trend of the disease.
‘Helping kids lose their pounds’, ‘start counting calories’ and ‘the battle against obesity begins are newspaper articles and as such they does not dwell much on statistical findings (Purcell, 2010). They include a host of interviews conducted by the journalist on some obese patients and some health experts. They give accounts of the daily struggles that an obese patient goes through and his current health situation which his physician sheds light on.
The five papers are largely similar; they all give accurate definitions of the disease, its effects and measures that can be taken to hinder the adverse effects. They only differ in length; the newspaper articles are considerably shorter than the survey papers, and in the mode of writing; the survey papers are statistical, empirical and systematic as compared to the newspaper articles.
All the articles were published in the year 2012 (Purcell, 2010). This is probably because the year saw the highest number of recorded obesity patients in recent times. The issue was clearly getting out of hand and something had to be done. The media was one of the methods used to sensitize the public on the issue. The articles I chose to focus on published the adverse effects of the disease, modes of prevention and included the statistical findings of recent researches that reflect the percentage of the total population affected by this disease.
Childhood obesity is a global issue, shown clearly by statistics in different countries. Many countries suffer from this public health scare and so the nature of the articles I studied is also international. The causes are similar in many countries and the suggested solutions are also applicable in the global scale (Purcell, 2010). The articles represent the growing concern of patients, doctors and nations. Patients fear for their lives and doctors are doing as much as they can to treat and prevent childhood obesity. Nations are trying to ensure that they have a healthy public to promote the growth of their respectable countries.
The credibility of these articles is undisputable. They feature a host of interviews from reliable medical centers, credible doctors and existing patients. Survey papers are usually meticulous in their findings and use reliable verifiable instruments for data collection. Data from secondary sources has been cited and is easy to find.
My articles of study cover a wide range of discourses. They include the biomedical, the economic and the cultural. Two most dominant discourses that feature in my articles and in many other articles that cover the same subject are the economic and biomedical.
The economic discourse covers the effects of childhood obesity on various economic aspects such as the food market, the work force, the resources channeled into curbing obesity and parental labor force participation. Hodgson (2013) avers “Rising obesity also carries a significant economic burden, very conservatively estimated at $4.6-billion in 2008 by the Canadian Institute for Health Information - and this number will only rise”. The development of technology has seen the evolution of the food market reach unconceivable heights. Tastier, more convenient and cheaper but also unfortunately energy filled food is being developed and slowly these snacks are substituting healthy food that can be prepared in households. Purcell (2010) says that “Not Surprisingly, children themselves have little opportunity to develop a taste for healthy wholesome food when they are targeted by food industry and surrounded by unhealthy choices.”
Their convenience is winning favor of many busy parents who find it easier to feed their children on them. Technology has also seen the production of soft ‘energy’ drinks that are a compulsory accompaniment to snacks. The rise of ingenuous food inventions has seen the rise of the number of obese children steadily increase. Due to changing schedules children are also spending more time away from home where they can acquire healthy home-made food and thus the only alternative left is junk (Purcell, 2010). The price different is also appealing: healthy foods are quite expensive while junk food is way cheaper by comparison. The serving portions of these snacks are also contributing to high calorie intake. Start Counting the Calories, (2010) says “for too many obese people, the future holds a misery of health problems, heart disease, bad knees, diabetes, strokes, blood clots, infertility and sleep apnea. It's a wretched existence and an unsustainable drain on the public purse”.
Households have also become extremely career oriented to cope with hard economic times. Time for all else such as child care is rare in most households. Important dietary aspects such as time for meals, balance of the diet and home cooked meals are completely bypassed, contributing to obesity. Increased working hours for mothers also contributes to childhood obesity due to the lack of quality child care. The age at which mothers return to work after giving birth also increases rates of childhood obesity with statistical data showing that children who are left before the age of three are more likely to become obese than children left at a later age. Kaplan (2011) asserts “In Canada, childhood obesity is an epidemic, affecting 26% of our children, and something like 1.6-million kids. This is an increase of almost 10% since 1978 and a burden on the country's health-care system”. The biomedical discourse covers the environmental, genetic and behavioral causes of obesity.
Children born to obese parents are more likely to become obese. The diet of the children is influenced by the parents. According to Milnen (2013) “Dr. Chappell, who is director of the school of nutrition at Ryerson University in Toronto, believes in providing for children a variety and range of foods -- including treats -- and encouraging them to be active”. They eat what is provided. They also pick up on the eating habits of their parents. Habits such as regular exercise and healthy eating should be impacted on children by parents needless to say the household of obese parents do not practice any of them, hence their children won’t. Barton (2013) says that “In Columbia, lesson plans distributed by Actions Schools! BC, a program adopted by majority of schools in the province, instruct kids to track aspects of their eating habits.” The genes that children inherit from their parents are also a factor. If the parents are overweight the children will acquire the gene and grow obese too.
In my own opinion, the discourses balance themselves out. The economic discourse can be countered by the biomedical discourse and vice versa. The effects of the consumption of junk food can be countered by regular exercise and high metabolism. More time dedicated to better diet and healthy home cooked food debunks the effect of the food market. Children who are educated on the adverse effects of excessive junk food intake grow up to be healthy and obesity free.
These discourses influence the perception of a large majority of individuals. People are making health conscious life style choices, less and less junk food is being consumed, healthy food alternatives are being made cheaper and readily available, parents are making more time for child rearing and there is wide spread sensitization on childhood obesity. If the current measures become a success, and there is no reason why they should not, the rates of childhood obesity are likely to decrease and this will in turn reduce the rates of adult obesity.
References
Barton, A. (2013). Downside to the fight against obesity; School programs urging kids to eat right and get fit may be linked to eating disorders. The Globe and Mail [Toronto], p. L3.
Hodgson, G. (2013). The battle against obesity begins at school; How to make Canadian health care sustainable? Five speakers from this week's Conference Board of Canada summit offer one remedy each for The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail [Canada].
Kaplan, B. (2011). Getting a head start; As parents are learning, you're never too young to train.National Post (f/k/a The Financial Post) [AL8].
Milne, C. (2013). Helping kids lose the pounds. National Post (f/k/a The Financial Post)[Toronto], p. A13.
Purcell, M. (2010). Raising healthy children: Moral and political responsibility for childhood obesity. Journal of Public Health Policy, 31(4), 433-446.
Start Counting the Calories. (2010). The Toronto Star [Ontario], p. A20.
THE CAUSES OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY: A SURVEY. (2013). Journal of Economic Survey, 27(4), 743-767.
