Childhood Obesity : Obesity Facts on Student

Childhood Obesity : Obesity Facts on Student

Childhood obesity results from a combination of poor nutrition and inactivity. Researchers concluded that schools have a unique opportunity and responsibility to teach and model healthy eating and physical activity to address attitudes and behaviors that contribute to obesity. According to the Institute of Medicine, obesity prevention efforts involve a focus on the energy balance of the complex equation of calories consumed (diet) versus calorie advertisers (physical activity) is influenced by various individual and environmental factors. Therefore, successful prevention efforts must address nutrition, nutrition education, physical education and physical activity.
Childhood obesity facts :
Only 2% of school-age children meet the recommended minimum number of servings for all five major food groups on the Food Guide Pyramid.
Young people today are eating more fast foods with ever increasing portion sizes.
Over 40% of an average family’s food budget is spent on fast foods.
Children’s diets are also high in added sugars. The risk of children being overweight has been shown to increase by 60% for each additional serving of a sweetened beverage that is consumed daily for a period of 1.5 years.
Potential health problems associated with high intake of sweetened drinks.
Forty-three percent of elementary, 74% of middle and 98% of high schools have either vending machines, a school store or snack bar where students can purchase food or beverages that compete with the federally supported Child Nutrition Programs.
More students are choosing to purchase foods from “competitive” sources such as a la carte and vending, which, unlike the USDA Child Nutrition Programs, have no federal nutrition guidelines.
The Surgeon General recommends that children should accumulate 60 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week.
Thirty five percent of high school students don’t participate in any regular physical activity.
Participation in all types of physical activity declines strikingly as age or grade in school increases.
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education recommends physical education instructional periods totaling a minimum of 150 minutes per week for elementary children and 225 minutes per week for middle and high school students.
Only 25% of students are enrolled in daily physical activity.