Childhood Obesity in the U.S.A

Have you ever heard of the campaign "Let's move"? This campaign started by the idea of Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the states, and it is about being healthy. One of DSKUSSS members shares her idea on child obesity. If you have any interesting thought, please let us know through the comments.

Childhood Obesity in the U.S.A

Jungwon Lee

Pusan National University

Dept. of Global Studies

 “In the end, as First Lady, this isn’t just a policy issue for me. This is a passion. This is my mission. I’m determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition.”

Several years ago, Unites States’ First Lady Michelle Obama announced an ambitious national goal of solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight and unveiled a nationwide campaign-Let’s Move-to help achieve it. The Let’s Move campaign is combating the epidemic of childhood obesity through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, and mobilizes public and private sector resources. The campaign engaged every sector impacting the health of children to achieve the national goal, and is providing schools, families and communities simple tools to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy.

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. One third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives; many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. The health care costs of obesity are skyrocketing, and this epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service. The main reason of this rising childhood obesity in United States is the eating habits. As more Americans are seeking convenience, they are eating lots of fast food and junk food, and individualism has increased the couch potatoes. This trend went down straight to children.  

Hopefully, there are several attempts to prevent the obesity danger of children in America by the campaign ‘Let’s move’. Schools are trying to serve healthier food in cafeterias because Administration is reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act, investing additional 10 billion dollars over ten years starting in 2011 to improve the quality of the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program. With this investment, additional fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products are now served in schools. Another attempt is helping parents make healthy family choices because parents play a key role in making healthy choices for their children. The American Academy of Pediatrics is writing a prescription for parents laying out the simple things they can do to increase healthy eating and active play. The fact that the Unites States is concerned about childhood obesity and trying to solve their problems is fortunate.