Since the late 1990's, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in Americans, regardless of age or ethnic background, according to information collected and analyzed by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Almost 9 million (15%) children between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight, and this number is still growing according to information gathered between 1999 and 2000 (triple the number of 1980). The information has also shown that another 15% of children between the ages of 6 and 19 are at risk of becoming overweight also.

Obesity is defined as having an excessive accumulation of body fat which will result in the person's body being about 20% heavier than their ideal body weight. So those people whose weight is above what is considered their ideal range, are defined as being overweight. Obesity is a common eating disorder that is associated with teens.

Although teens may have fewer weight related health issues than adults, those teens that are overweight now are much more likely to be come overweight as an adult. Teens who are overweight (in fact people of all ages that are overweight) are at risk from a number of different health issues, and these include

Heart Disease
Diabetes
High Blood Pressure
Strokes
Some Forms of Cancer

Those teens who are obese may find that they are not only physically unfit, but their general all round well being is usually very low as well. Many obese people will also tend to have a shorter life expectancy than those who are the right weight for their body size.

Plus, it can also lead to social disabilities and unhappiness, which in turn may cause them stress and in some cases, may make them mentally ill as well.

A study that was carried out and details of which were released in May 2004 suggested that overweight children are more likely to be involved in bullying than those children who are a normal weight. But they are not only the victims of bullying, they may be the perpetrators as well.

The development of their own personal identity and body image is an important goal for any teenager.

A child who sees themselves as unattractive may compensate by resorting to bullying to gain some feeling of power and self-worth.

There are a number of causes for obesity which center around an imbalance in the teens energy they put into their bodies, (calories that they obtain from the food they eat) and the energy they release from their bodies (how good their metabolism is, and how much physical activity they take part in). Often, when a teen is overweight, it is because there is a problem with the nutritional value of their diet, or it may be psychological, familial or physiological, all of which we will discuss a little bit more, further on in this publication.

The Family

Often children and teens are more at risk of becoming overweight if they have two overweight parents. Although in some cases, this may be due to a powerful genetic factor, or it may be because they are modeling themselves after what they see their parents eating. Also physical activities, if any, they take part in, can indirectly affect the teen.

Inactivity

On average, an American child will spend several hours each day watching television or on a computer. Compare this to years ago, when this time would have been spent doing some form of physical activity instead. There are a large amount of teens and children who are now overweight, as they are expending little energy, and often eat high calorie snacks while watching TV or playing on the computer. Today in the US, only about 13 of elementary school children carry out some form of physical education, and less than 15 take part in physical activity programs after school.

This is a frightening statistic!

Heredity

Recently, information has shown that heredity can influence weight gain in a child and teen. It was found that children born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active, and often gain more weight by the age of 3 months compared to those children born to mothers who are a normal weight, which suggests a possible inborn drive to conserve energy.

These are some of the problems causing our children to become overweight at an alarming rate.

The solutions are too many and expansive to list here. However, there ARE solutions.

Help is at hand. Just see my bio box below - and do as you're told!

To read more about this problem with young people, especially teenagers, and to discover how you, as a parent, can help to combat it, please visit me in my Grumpy Cave.