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Childhood Obesity

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Addressing the issue of Childhood Obesity The issue of childhood obesity in the United States is growing at an alarming rate. Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past thirty years. Statistics show that childhood obesity has increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008 in children ages six to eleven as stated on the CDC web site (Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion). Currently in the United States one of three children and teens are obese or overweight as stated in the American Heart Association web site. Definition of Obesity is, Obesity is the result of caloric imbalance (too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed). In order to standardize calculations of obesity the Institute of Medicine asked the federal government in 2005 to develop guide lines for using BMI (body mass index) in schools. The BMI is the ratio of weight to height squared. BMI is used to access weight status because it is can easily be measure and it also correlates with the amount of body fat. Guidance is provided on specific safeguards that need to be addressed before schools decide to collect BMI information, stated on the CDC web site. This information is needed for schools to compare results with other schools for specific age groups. Age and sex specific charts are used to calculate BMI in children and teens using the child’s height and weight then matching there BMI to their age and sex specific chart. If a child is in the ninety-five percentile or higher are considered obese, between eighty-five and less than the ninety-five percentile are overweight, between the fifth and less than the eighty-fifth are normal weight, less than the fifth are considered as underweight, stated in the American Heart Association web site. The percentile how a child compares to other children there age and gender. Obese youth have a

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