almost tripled over the past 20 years" (Spurgeon 2002).
What is the prevalance of this health issue?
The prevalance of obesity in children has been rapidly increasing in the last two decades, reaching epidemic proportions (Philippas & Lo, 2005). According to studies, more and more children are becoming overweight or obese and has doubled over the last 20 years. Among this aggregate, boys hold a higher statistic of obesity than girls (The Daily, 2002). It is quite clear that childhood obesity is a serious and rising epidemic, capable of negatively affecting the quality of many children's lives. Studies have shown that obesity during childhood has givien rise to chronic diseases that were once only seen in adults(Lawrence, 2005). Fortunatley, this health concern can easily be prevented only if preventative measures are implemented early.
How do you define Childhood Obesity?
In order to determine whether a child is considered overweight or obese, a tool called the Body Mass Index is used. The BMI is the ratio of weight in kilograms to squared height in meteres. It is a calculation that uses height and weight to estimate how much body fat there is in the body.
A child with a BMI between the 85th and 95th percentiles is considered overweight, which is defined as an excess of body weight compared to set standards.
A child is considered obese if thier BMI is at or above the 95th percentile. Obesity is defined as "the excessive accumulation of fat in the body [and an] increase in weight...with regard to age, height, and bone structure" (O'Toole, 2003, p. 1240). A recent study has shown that 16% of 6-11 year old children and 16% of 12-19 year old adolescents are overweight" (Philippas & Lo, 205, p. 77).
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