Childhood obesity.
More than one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.
Overweight and obesity can be simply defined as the intake of too many calories and not
enough activity to burn off those calories resulting in a weight gain of unhealthy
proportions. The effects of child and adolescent obesity have negative impacts, both
immediate and long term. One of the negative effects is diabetes, which is preventable
through a healthy lifestyle to include good eating habits and regular physical activity.
Thesis Statement:
Child obesity is out of control in the United States when one out of five children
are considered “obese” by medical standards, with the prospects of those numbers
growing one out of three children within the next ten years or less.
Eight Topic Sentences:
1.Immediate health risk factors in obese children and adolescents are joint and bone problems.
2. To carry around that weight will inevitably degenerate joints and connecting tissues more quickly.
3. Psychological and emotional damage are to be taken into consideration as long- term effects from obesity, which cause alienation, ostracizing, and low self esteem.
4. Long-term health risks are heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, certain types of cancer, kidney failure and blindness (Dietz 855).
5. Diabetes affects 25.8 million or 8.3% of the United States population--18.8 million diagnosed and 7.0 million undiagnosed (Dietz 855).
6. Comparison of ethnicities to white-diagnosed diabetics--18% higher for Asian Americans, 66% higher for Hispanics, and 77% higher for blacks (Dietz 856).
7. Positive and negative influences surround us everyday and can have a profound impact on the lifestyle choices we make to be healthy or to be heavy.
8. We are bombarded with blatant advertising on television, magazine advertisements, what our family and friends say and do, and with whom we interact at schools and churches.
Works Cited
Dietz, W.H. “Overweight in Childhood and Adolescence.” New England Journal of Medicine 350 (2004): 855-57. Web. 12 April 2012.
www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm, n.d. Web. 12 April 2012
www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/pdf/ndfs_2011.pdf, n.d. Web. 12 April 2012
Works Consulted
Daniels, S.R., Arnet, D.K., Eckel, R.H., et al. Overweight in children and
adolescents: path physiology, consequences, prevention, and treatment.
Circulation, 111. (2005): n. pag. Web. 12 April 2012.
Kushi, L.H., Byers, T., Doyle, C., Bandera, E..V., McCullough, M., Gansler, T., et al. American Cancer Society guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention: reducing the risk of cancer with healthy food choice and physical activity. A Cancer Journal for Clinitions 56 (2006): 254-81. Web. 12 April 2012.
National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 2010: With special features on death and dying. Hyattsville, MD. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011. Web. 12 April 2012.
