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Essay on Fighting Obesity in Elementary Children
Increased snacking has been suggested as one of the etiologies of the rising prevalence of childhood obesity and the decrease in nutritional quality of children's diets. The results of the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes of Individuals (CSFII) indicate that snacking has increased among all age groups from 1986 to 1996. Children consume a minimum of one to 2 snacks per day and snacks contribute 20 to 42% of children's total daily energy intake. The most common snack time for children occurs in the afternoon.
The most popular snack items are foods that are traditionally high in energy, fat, and sodium and less dense in micronutrients. Typical snacks include soft drinks, potato and corn chips, cookies, candy bars, and ice cream.
Obesity is currently the most prevalent nutritional disease of children and adolescents in the United States, affecting nearly one in five children (Dietz, 1998). An examination of the data from the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC's) National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) show an alarming increase in the proportion of obese children. Between the times of the initial two survey cycles (1963-1965 and 1966-1970) and the NHANES III (1988-1991), overweight defined by the 85th percentile of body mass index (BMI) increased approximately 15% to 22% for both 6 through 11-year-olds and 12 through 17-year-olds. When overweight was defined by the 95th percentile of BMI, the percentage rose from 5% to almost 11% for 6-11-year-olds and from 5% to approximately 12% for 12 through 17-year-olds.
In general, the greatest increases in overweight prevalence occurred between 1976-1991. During those 15 years, the number of overweight children and adolescents nearly doubled (Troiano, Flegal, Kuczmarski, Campbell, & Johnson, 1995).
Beginning in 1983, the CDC and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) started monitoring the prevalence trends of overweight in infants, toddlers, and preschool children among theUnited States low income population.....
