ROUGH+DRAFT

Hey Guys, I just finished my part so I'll post it here if you guys want to read it. I figured I'd post a page for the rough draft and we can make a formal page for our final paper tmrw morn. Good luck!

**__Factors Causing Child Obesity:__** Physical Activity Physical activity plays a vital role in the body mass of children and adolescents and can be divided into two simple events: a lack of physical activity and excessive inactivity. A study in South Carolina discovered that children that participated in the least amount of vigorous physical activity or the most television viewing tended to be the most overweight individuals out of the sample. The study presented evidence revealing that the risk of obesity of children (male and female) in Mexico City decreased by ten percent per hour of physical activity and increased by twelve percent for each hour of television viewing (Ebbeling et al. 2002). An experiment was conducted by our group in which a sample of children (Grades 5-7) from various elementary schools were asked general questions about their levels of physical activity on a weekly basis. About forty-five percent of the children were enrolled in some sort of after school activity (baseball, hockey, swimming etc.) while the other fifty five percent did not participate in any such activities. Despite the relatively higher energy levels children have compared to adults, children still susceptible to obesity if they do not use the energy provided by their bodies. If a child does not partake in a form of physical endurance the energy created stays within their bodies and turn to fat. In a study conducted by several professors at the University of Texas School of Public Health, they observed fifth-graders’ physical activity in their neighbourhood in several different neighbourhoods. The study concluded that physical environmental factors (high or low temperatures and precipitation) had little or no effect on the correlation between physical activity and obesity (Franzini et al. 2009). Diet Children’s diets, if abused play a vital role in the development of obesity. Generally fast food, or foods loaded with sugar, starch, or fat are the main threats to a child’s diet. Although children have generally higher metabolisms than adults, their bodies struggle to break down junk foods more than balanced meals. Over time, these foods full of useless energy build up as fat and contribute to weight gain. In addition to an excessive intake of junk food, child obesity can be cause by imbalanced diets. Since proteins, carbohydrates and other forms of molecular bodies are found in different food groups, balanced diets are also a key factor in maintaining normal body mass indexes. Weight gain can occur when there is a lack or excess of food from one particular food group. The digestive track is also an important part of a child’s body that can be affected by imbalanced diets as fibre (often found in grain and vegetables) cleanses the intestines. Without vegetables and whole grain products (which is usually the case among obese children), the body cannot properly pass the food through the digestive track and as a result waste remains in the intestines. This waste is then transformed into fats that now must be burned instead of excreted through bowel movements (Burrows et al. 2010).

Lifestyle With various distractions available for today’s youth, combinations of physical activity (or lack of) and poorly planned diets provide the ideal environment for child obesity to occur. Television viewing is particularly threatening children with obesity since it fulfills both conditions of physical activity – these children not only lack physical activity but ingest high energy foods simultaneously. Activities such as Web surfing and gaming have become much more prevalent in today’s youth as those markets have grown significantly within the past decade. This laid back attitude is created through the relative ease of entertainment provided by these types of activities; they stimulate the brain with little effort and can go on for hours at a time. In addition, fast food diets are a growing trend in today’s youth and a study conducted by T. Burrows states that the average child and adolescent ingests fast food meals at least three times a week. This is the result of an increase of “cost effective” value meals appearing in almost every fast food chain (Burrows et al. 2010)

**Works Cited** Burrows T., Warren J.M., Collins C.E. “ The impact of a child obesity treatment intervention on   parent child-feeding practices. //International Journal of Pediatric Obesity// (2010): n.5 pg. 43-50. , January 2010.

Ebbeling, Cara B., Pawiak, Dorota B., Ludwig, David S. “Childhood Obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure.” //The Lancet// (2002): n.360. < http://journals2.scholarsportal.in fo.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/tmp/11397014749801228678.pdf>, August 2002. Franzini, L., Elliot, M., Cuccaro, P., Tortolero, S. “Influences of Physical and Social Neighbourhood Environments on Children’s Physical Activity and Obesity.” //American Journal of Pub////lic Health// (2008): n.99 pg. 271-278. , February 2009.