Home » Articles on Demand » Mobilizing your Program to Combat Childhood Obesity




Mobilizing your Program to Combat Childhood Obesity

by Roseann Rinear
July/August 2019
Access over 3,000 practical Exchange articles written by the top experts in the field through our online database. Join Today!

Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/mobilizing-your-program--to-combat-childhood-obesity/5024891/

My last article discussed what obesity is and how it affects young children. Now I would like to discuss what we can do to help families and children have better health. Solutions are the responsibility of four different entities: 1) parents, 2) community, 3) teachers, and 4) children.

One needs to ask, is it just diet that causes obesity, or is there more to the problem? Research tells us there are myriad complex factors: genetic, dietary, and socioeconomic factors, lack of exercise, sugary drinks, fast food, prolonged computer time and television viewing, and lack of proximity to green spaces and recreational areas (Gurnani M, Birken C, Hamilton, J. (2015).

Let’s tackle the low-hanging fruit: diet. Ultimately, parents are their child’s first teacher. Parents are responsible for their child’s food choices and intake. A well-balanced diet is a prerequisite for a healthy diet (Banhari,I., and Odobasa, R., 2018). But do all parents have access to healthy food? Populations that are on the socioeconomic at-risk level are often at a disadvantage.

On an individual and community level, SES disparities create a barrier to diet quality. Population groups with low-SES have limited access to highly nutritious foods. Poverty has been associated with a greater distance to supermarkets ...

Want to finish reading Mobilizing your Program to Combat Childhood Obesity?

You have access to 5 free articles.
or an account to access full article.