Obesity Affects a New Generation

The new millennia generation continues to grow and develop new trends, habits and problems with society and subcultures. Childhood obesity has become a common trend among young children and young people in the EU. Experts have reported an increase of approximately tenths of millions of obese children in the last two decades.

The largest number of obese children in the United States are in low-income families and minorities. The lack of resources and time can prevent adults in the family to inculcate healthy eating habits and that has gradually promoted health issues. Genetic composition can also be a factor that makes minority children more susceptible to excessive weight gain.

Children who suffer from obesity at an early age, face situations that test their physical and emotional condition. Their mobility may be limited, which discourages them from participating in physical and social activities. Therefore the risk of high blood pressure and diabetes is much higher. These conditions if left untreated, could become serious health problems that continue into their adult life. In 2004 the Department of Health and Human Services reported that the annual cost of direct and indirect problems associated with obesity reached US $ 117 million.

Households with low or limited incomes lack of healthy choices in their diets. The costs of healthy and organic food are not available to these families. More accessible consume cheap fast foods, high in fat and sugar.

Children living in low-income areas, often do not feel safe to do outdoor activities, nor have access to physical activities after school activities. The use of social media and electronic entertainment, time tends to replace that previous generations used to spend time outside finance activities that foster a healthier lifestyle. Furthermore, parents who have the means to provide a healthier diet, tend to have busy schedules and eating out is the common option at the time to feed their families. Thousands of food products filled the need to eat, but may lack the necessary nutritional requirements to raise healthy young people. Food preparations may also contain high levels of sodium, calories, saturated fat, preservatives and more.

These negative ingredients to human health can be reduced by making better choices when shopping and taking time to plan and prepare meals at home, also adding physical activity to a daily routine.

For more information or to read this article in Spanish go to LaRedHispana.org