Child Obesity: a Severe American Issue

Nurture vs. Nature
Tiffany L. Rivera
ENG. 122
Prof.   Pamela Klem
April 10, 2011

Nurture vs. Nature

Obesity is a large problem in the United States.   The issue is so severe, that it affects almost every American in one way or another.   Childhood obesity has grown over the past twenty years, and today many children (both in the US and abroad) are overweight or at risk of becoming so. Thanks mostly to fast food restaurants like McDonalds, and Burger King.   It’s all about the toy.   It is my intention to show the reader how important and dangerous child obesity is and the health risk our children will suffer now and when they become adults.
In researching the following paper I discovered a wealth of credible information from both the internet (www.lakeoswegoreview.com, www.cdc.gov, www.voices4kids.org) and traditionally published textbooks (Prevalence of high body mass index in US children and adolescents by Ogden, C., Carroll, M., Curtin, L., Lamb, M., Flegal, K., A Child’s World: Infancy through Adolescence by Papalia, D., Olds, S., Feldman, R.).   Surprisingly the subject of child obesity crosses various fields of research from behavioral psychology to cultural studies/sociology.
This paper will cover the several aspects of childhood obesity begin with Webster’s definition and transitioning into several basic facts and statistics identifying current trends in child and adolescent obesity throughout the world, but primarily focusing on its prevalence within (and impact on) the United States and American culture.   It will then identify the suspected causes of the obesity problem, its negative effects on our children, and conclude by identifying some possible solutions to the problem.   This is cause for alarm; and it should register as a wakeup call to parents, law makers and citizens of all countries, ethnicities and/or backgrounds; as the gradual weakening of the human species through malnutrition will undoubtedly hinder the physical/mental progress of...