Childhood Obesity in Iowa
Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper the Quad-city times on the topic “childhood Obesity in Iowa”. Express clearly with examples about your concern and what needs to be done.
Sample Answer
Letter to the Editor on Childhood Obesity in Iowa
Dear Editor:
Obesity stands as the most prevalent nutritional disorder in adolescents and children in the United States and is a severe public health problem that puts children at risk of poor health. Reports show that in Iowa, over 50,000 children aged between 10 and 17 are obese. Data from the children’s health national survey shows that 16.4% of Iowa children in this age group have obesity. The rate of obesity in Iowa is higher than the national obesity rate for the 10-17 age group, which stands at 15.3% (Foster and Weinstein, 2019). Iowa has the fourteenth highest obesity rate in the age group among all 50 states. Children obese if they are well above the healthy and average weight for their height and age (CDC, 2019). It involves having body mass indexes above the 95th percentile for teens and children of similar sex and age. Obesity and overweight significantly impact psychological and physical health. Self-esteem, social and emotional well-being in children is profoundly affected by obesity. It also increases the likelihoods of developing cardiovascular and chronic conditions at younger ages (Sahoo et al., 2015).
The knowledge of the parent, ethnicities and race, the environment and diet habits all contribute to the obesity epidemic. Knowledge and understanding in parents is the primary and most influential factor in the control of childhood obesity in Iowa. To control the state’s epidemic, the first step should involve assessing and changing the attitudes of parents. A parent who is overweight may have no concern with controlling weight and can entirely dismiss the concern of childhood obesity, which results in a lack of parental involvement and motivation on the part of the child to change eating habits. Successful interventions in children have shown to involve at least one parent or guardian as active participants, friend or family support, and increases in activity (Verjans-Janssen et al., 2018).
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2019). Childhood Obesity Facts. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html
- Foster, B. A., & Weinstein, K. (2019). Moderating Effects of Components of Resilience on Obesity Across Income Strata in the National Survey of Children’s Health. Academic pediatrics, 19(1), 58-66.
- Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A. K., Sofi, N. Y., Kumar, R., & Bhadoria, A. S. (2015). Childhood obesity: causes and consequences. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 4(2), 187.
