Childhood Obesity

I have chosen to research and write a paper on childhood obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that obesity now affects 17% of all children and adolescents in the United States-triple the rate from just one generation ago (CDC.GOV). This is an alarming number of children that are affected. Because obesity affects the physical and socio-emotional development of children, it is important that we try and find ways to get the message across that something needs to change.

To narrow down my topic I will research the effect this epidemic has on the minority community. The rate of childhood obesity is by far greater in the ethnic minority and low-income communities. Various environmental factors are largely to blame. The fact that there are more fast-food chains in these low income neighborhoods and lack of supervision that allows kids to sit in front of the television for hours at a time all play a major role in the problem. (Kumanyika, Grier, 2006). Minority children are simply not getting enough physical activity when they are home. In some cases, obesity rates for ethnic minority children exceeded rates for white children by 10 to 12 percentage points. The number is just too high. While most believe that schools should brunt the biggest responsibility I want to argue that it should be a combination of efforts from everyone especially parents.

I look forward to researching my topic a little further and learning more about this very important issue.