There are many
determinants regarding the widespread obesity in American children, and while
many may think that this problem is limited to diet and exercise, there are
unseen factors that play a large role in facilitating the prevalence of this
condition. To begin, dieting and
exercise are two key determinants that have a large impact on obesity. The CDC
recommends that youths get at least 60 min of exercise a day, and have found
that as kids get older, their physical activity decreases. This may be attributed
to a sedentary lifestyle, which is increasingly common in America. The same
cultural or social determinant can be applied to dieting, as eating healthy is
a learned behavior stemming from parents and schools. However, healthier foods
are generally more expensive, which brings an economic aspect into the problem.
Those who cannot afford to consistently purchase healthy foods must rely on
cheaper alternatives, such as fast food, which have very high fat contents
among other unhealthy factors.
While the
consumption of unhealthy food, such as fast foods, can be seen as social or
cultural determinant, the location and availability of fast food restaurants is
an environmental one. A Tulane university study yielded that in New Orleans predominantly black neighborhoods have 2.4 fast-food restaurants per
square mile compared to 1.5 restaurants in predominantly white neighborhoods.
The study goes on to state that the link between fast food restaurants and
black and low-income neighborhoods may contribute to the understanding of
environmental causes of the obesity epidemic in these populations.
Furthermore, there are biological determinants for
obesity, which can increase its prevalence especially through genetics. It is
also believed that Genetic factors may play some part in 70 - 80% of
obesity cases. The importance in this statistic works to display the advantage knowing
family history to help children who may be at risk genetically and put them on
healthy diet and exercise regiments at younger ages.
Jameson,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really strong blog. It looks like you've done a good amount of research regarding your topic. Are you going to focus your paper onto disparities between the diets of poor and rich children and how that relates to obesity?
Zach
Hey Jameson,
ReplyDeleteYou really do seem to have information regarding all aspects of child obesity. I especially liked your discussion on sociocultural determinants, such as learned behaviors. My only question is to what you want to work on in terms of childhood obesity, since this is still a very broad topic.
Wren
Jameson,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a great job researching this topic and finding great key determinants! I liked how you added the Tulane University study to add meat to your response, no pun intended. I think the statistics along with other data will greatly benefit your final paper.
Jameson,
ReplyDeleteYou have a really great start here with your description of your key determinants. Specifically, I like how you started with diet and exercise, and dissect them a bit into some of their respective contributing parts. A few things – the decrease in physical activity is almost for sure due to the increasing prevalence of sedentary lifestyle – what else could it be due to? Why is the sedentary lifestyle increasing in America?
I like your phrasing of healthy eating as a learned behavior.
The argument that unhealthy food is cheaper has been made many times, but is this really true? Give some more facts about it. Show us why it’s true. You’re making the argument that unhealthy food is more available, but does that mean that healthy food is less available? Is it just the fact that there are more fast-food restaurants in underserved areas, or fewer stores that sell produce? And if it’s only true that fast food restaurants are more prevalent, then is eating there part of a learned behavior? That being said, good job on describing the Tulane study.
The genetic/biological component is impossible not to discuss with obesity. I would definitely expand on this and talk about the research and how we have estimated the genetic versus environmental contributions, as well as maybe some specific medical conditions in which people gain weight (hypothyroidism, for example).
Good job on this! I'm looking forward to reading your paper! Let me know if you have any other quesitons.