Childhood obesity
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Literature review topic
Childhood obesity is a disease where a child is above their healthy weight and height. It is a health concern that is complex. It is caused by several factors, such as genes and behaviour. On account of personal expression, there are several activities that a child does, which increases their chances of gaining weight. They include eating foods in high calorie, lack thereof or inadequate physical exercise, consumption of foods in low nutrients, and luxury activities such as regular TV viewing.
On the contrary, observing a healthy lifestyle can keep the disease at bay. To live a healthy lifestyle, one can engage in taking a healthy diet and being physically active. Such measures prevent excess weight gain and other potential chronic illnesses such as cancer and heart diseases (Simmonds et al., 2016).
Reason for Interest in the Topic
My interest in this topic has spurred by an encounter I have with a close relative, who is at her tender age. She has been in and out of the hospital due to diabetes that has been preceded by obesity. At nine years of age, I have seen her go through a lot of medication, which is abnormal concerning other kids at school. This condition has taken a toll on her academics, and social life. She has resulted in isolation, as her self-esteem has lowered. She feels left out, and no one understands her health journey. This experience, coupled with the alarming research done on the disease, has sparked my interest in this topic. The study indicates that a lot of children are at risk of being obese, especially those from developing countries.
Understanding of the topic
Based on the reasons stated above on interest, I would like to get a deeper understanding of why such obesity cases are taking place in children. I desire to gain more knowledge of the ideas that have caused the skyrocketed cases today, which was not the case before. I would also love to understand what these obese children go through, and hence possibly find a scientific solution. This venture will obviously require more in-depth research on the appropriate ways that will expedite cure among the affected children. I am curious to also understand how other sectors of their lives are affected due to the disease and possibly come up with recommendations on what the public has to do to prevent the disease.
Two existing lit reviews on child obesity
Singer, K., & Lumeng, C. N. (2017). The initiation of metabolic inflammation in childhood obesity. The Journal of clinical investigation, 127(1), 65-73.
World Health Organization. (2016). Consideration of the evidence on childhood obesity for the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity: report of the ad hoc working group on science and evidence for ending childhood obesity, Geneva, Switzerland.
Literature review research question
The research question for the research will be:
What preventive measures can be put in place against obesity among children between the age of 6-12 years, in developing countries in this modern age, to reduce susceptibility to chronic illnesses?
The methods to be used will majorly target the health facilities such as hospitals and clinics, and patients of the disease, especially children under the age of 13. The research data collection methods will include questionnaires and interviews. The plans will target resourceful health workers such as the lab workers that perform tests on the children, those that give medication to the obese children and provide a layout on the cure or management process. This layout ensures that the child recovers, as well as the patients in the hospital, especially those in severe stages of the illness. Such as measure reduces the possibility of patients succumbing to other chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, strokes, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance.
The desired outcome of this research is to find out the leading cause of the rise of obesity among children in third world countries. Based on the research that has been done so far, there is a high rise in obesity cases among children in these countries. One of the findings that have been quite evident is that the level of obesity in an individual is based on the environment of birth, coupled with their genetics and lifestyle. Some of the reasons already mentioned that could be affecting children are their biological context. It is characterized by their maternal experiences, both before and after birth. The questions on the kind of food the mother was eating while pregnant, whether or not it was nutritious enough, and the food that the child was introduced to during weaning, shapes their tastes and preferences even as they feed (Singer & Lumeng, 2017).
This kind of information is not available to people in third world countries. They do not have the resources as well to spread the preventive measures that should be taken to prevent this particular disease. Such nations are also at a higher risk of recording high numbers of obese children since they introduce their children to foods that are processed from developed countries. In pursuit of lifestyles like those of the developed countries, they are at risk of consuming unhealthy foods, which are very high in calories, such as fast foods. This has to be looked into, and possible solutions and preventative measures to put the condition under control.
This disease is no longer a disease of adults since it has become very prevalent among children. This is because a person is introduced to different foods during childhood, which shapes their preferences and tastes. During this stage, their metabolic rate is defined as well. There is, therefore, the need for the introduction of the right foods to children. This makes sure that metabolism takes place in the right way to avoid metabolic inflammation caused by obesity, which makes a child prone to other lifestyle diseases. This kind of understanding is necessary so that mothers can introduce their children to the right type of foods early on in their lives, hence prevent the possibility of being obese (World Health Organization, 2016).
Search Strategy
The search strategy used to search for the relevant works of literature to work on will be based on the research question explained above. First and foremost, the research question is on the topic of obesity. I will, therefore, use obesity, where the wildcard will retrieve all the sources with the keyword obesity. To narrow down on my target literature, I will include keywords such as children AND developing nations. The operator AND will generate all the essays based on childhood obesity and third-world countries. Finally, I will search for NEAR 2015, with the operator NEAR, referring to all the works of literature that have been written in the modern age and relate to the rise in childhood obesity, that is rising in the developing countries. With such comprehensive research, it is then possible to get all the literature needed to provide information to find solutions to this disease.
References
Singer, K., & Lumeng, C. N. (2017). The initiation of metabolic inflammation in childhood obesity. The Journal of clinical investigation, 127(1), 65-73.
World Health Organization. (2016). Consideration of the evidence on childhood obesity for the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity: report of the ad hoc working group on science and evidence for ending childhood obesity, Geneva, Switzerland.
Simmonds, M., Llewellyn, A., Owen, C. G., & Woolacott, N. (2016). Predicting adult obesity from childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Obesity reviews, 17(2), 95-107.