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Health Risks among Obese Children
Since children are on the growing stage of their lives, they have higher energy requirements for their bodies. Their growth depends on a healthy diet and regular physical activities. However, just like adults, when they consume large amounts of food than their bodies actually use as energy, the surplus energy is automatically stored in their bodies as unhealthy fat. As a result, more and more children become obese.
The problem among obese children is that they will grow up to be obese adults. As a result, they will have higher health risks later in life, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke and bowel cancer. Since the risks of serious health problems increase as a child becomes higher, preventing the epidemic of obese children at an earlier age is important. Onset diabetes is caused where the body is unable to produce enough insulin in comparison to the body size and diet consumed. Diabetes is a grave health issue, but also has many complications, which are dangerous to life. Problems caused due to obesity are cardiovascular diseases caused due to accumulation of fat in arteries. The accumulation of fat proves to be a block for blood circulation and heart has to pump blood with a greater force, which increases the risk of heart attack.
Overweight children have higher risks to contradict diseases. Since fat cells are normally laid down during the early stages of life, a child’s body will create more fat cells when fats are stored. Thus, obese children will have two to five times more fat cells compared to a normal child.
As fat cells eventually stop to increase, adults will have a fixed amount of fat cells throughout their lives. For this reason, obese children have bodies that are programmed to store fat until their adulthood. As a result, it can be twice as difficult for them to lose weight.
When to approach Medical Attention
Doctors are observing increasing rates of health problems among obese children worldwide. While there are only a few health problems for kids, their condition can cause a variety of health problems later in life. These include high blood pressure, sleep apnea, heart disease and diabetes as well as social and psychological problems.
Type II diabetes is usually diagnosed among adults. However, obese children are experiencing this condition because of unhealthy process of body sugars. Unfortunately, once a child develops type II diabetes, he or she will not be cured; instead, they can only be treated. This health problem can also lead to blindness, nerve damages and heart disease.
Sleep apnea is a condition where the soft tissues in the throat obstruct the airways as a person sleeps, causing several seconds up to a minute of stopped breathing. When this happens, obese children are more likely to experience fatigue, headaches, memory loss or cardiovascular disease.
Summary: Apart from physical health risks, overweight children also face to different social and psychological problems that can only deteriorate their condition. Treating overweight and obese child at an early age can prevent these life destructing problems. Child obesity is a crisis in this country, but it is not a problem without a solution. When it comes to child obesity, doctors have plenty of healthy recommendations for parents that will ensure that their kids stay slim and trim.
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