Preventing childhood obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Preventing childhood obesity - Essay Example â€Å"Factors associated with increased risk for overweight or obesity in infancy and early childhood include excessive maternal weight gain or smoking during gestation, shorter-than-recommended duration of breast-feeding, and suboptimal amounts of sleep during infancy† (Wojcicki and Heyman). Effects of obesity on children are numerous, and for the most part, negative. Obesity makes children sluggish and intervenes in their healthy physical development. It lowers children’s self-esteem. In addition to that, obesity is also one of the main causes of such diseases and health conditions in children as high blood pressure and diabetes that are conventionally associated with adults particularly in the old age. (Kimbro and Rigby) studied the effects of the federal food policy on the obesity in children, and found that food assistance is likely to cause childhood obesity particularly in the cities where the prices of foods are high. They also found that subsidized meals offered to the children at the day care centers or in the schools help them maintain the right weight because of which, there is need to expand the poor children’s access to subsidized meals. The US government is taking serious steps to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity. One of the campaigns that have been started in the recent years is the â€Å"Let’s Move† campaign by Michelle Obama that is directed at revamping the food products’ nutritional labeling to empower the consumers and especially the parents, improving the National School Lunch Program’s nutritional value, improving the access of all communities in the US to the high-quality foods, and increasing the physical activity fo r children. This way, this campaign combats childhood obesity by making a holistic effort. â€Å"By directly emphasizing the potential risks for lifetime obesity that present in infancy and early childhood and providing the structure and direction for