Health Issues and Risks of being over weight Essay

Health Issues and Risks of being over weight Essay

Health Issues and Risks of being over weight Essay

Overweight increases the health risks for children and teens. Increasing number of American children are developing type 2 diabetes, which was once rare. Additionally, overweight and obese children have higher chances of becoming obese in adulthood, posing a great deal of danger in terms of health (NHLBI, NIH, 2012). There are many diseases associated with increased body weight such as most types of cancer such as breast, kidney, pancreas, cervical, ovarian, thyroid, and prostate cancer. Other affected organs include the gall bladder, esophagus, intestines, and vulva among others. Lymphoma and multiple myeloma are also diseases associated with overweight (Kushi, et al., 2016). Health Issues and Risks of being over weight Essay

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Additional information to further assess his weight-related health

Since both the girl and parents are overweight as well, it is necessary to assess the family for causes such as behavior and genetics. They need to be assessed for diet choice and routine, engagement with body exercises or of it thereof, sleep pattern, stressful factors, among other items.

I would also assess additional factors in the society such as accessibility to healthy food, clean water; assess the hygiene levels of the surrounding, school environment, knowledge about healthy lifestyle and the type of marketing and food advertisement that goes around the neighborhood (Childhood Obesity Facts, 2015).

To gather information and evaluate the health of the preteen, one can use anthropometry. It is a polite, inexpensive approach used to evaluate the composition, weight and body proposition of a person. The World Health Organization also recommends the use of growth charts to keep track of the progress that a person makes from childhood to adulthood. If the anthropometric parameters are below 3^rd percentile then it is indicative of insufficient growth and nutrition (Gaur & Nayak, 2011).

Given the fact that the girl is severely underweight and that her parents are underweight as well, it is important to also assess the other important aspects such as civic education on maternal health, financial status of the family, and family size. The child should also be assessed for dental caries. Having dental caries can affect the physical, mental, and overall systemic health. It also increases her chances of having iron deficiency anemia and in some cases it can also lead to failure to thrive without any particular reason (Gaur & Nayak, 2011).

Three specific questions about the child to gather more information

1. Does your child go out and play with his friends or does any activity such as swimming or biking?
2. Does he love sweet food products such as donuts and cupcakes?
3. What does your usual daily food intake as a family looks like?

Two strategies that would encourage the parents to be proactive about their child’s health and weight

I will suggest the parents to adopt a sustainably healthy lifestyle that incorporates a will balanced diet free of sugars, fast foods, and other toxic foods, and also adopt a physical exercise routine that is suitable to their schedule. Such patterns will not only reduce the current overweight situation, but also ensure healthy bodies free of weight-related diseases (The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation 2010, 2010).

I will recommend them to use the Dietary Guidelines for American as a guide for a healthy diet pattern. These guidelines emphasize on indulging in non-processed foods, low-fat products, more plant-based meals and less animal-based meals, physical exercises and water intake. I will also recommend them to follow the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans which recommends children to engage in an hour a day of physical activity at least five days a week (Childhood Obesity Facts, 2015). Thus, in order to have a healthy weight for the child, in this case the whole family should be taken into account and be encouraged to make an effort towards a healthy goal.

There was a study done to find more about the variations in family feeding routines which was based on factors such as race, household income, parent education level, acculturation, and participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Eligible quardians were asked to complete Preschooler Feeding Questionairre (PFQ). This included five classifications: children with eating concerns, children with underweight concerns, children experiencing difficulty with eating, children that require food to calm down, and pushing child to eat group. It was interesting to find that the Spanish speaking parents were particularly concerned that their children were more underweight that the American category. Income and WIC were related in that high-income non-WIC had more picky-eating children that the WIC. Also Spanish speaking parents and Black parents were more often falling in the category of children who require food to calm down. Thus, it only tells the practitioner that he/she needs to understand that different ethnicity, race, culture and income levels significantly affect the eating patterns of children. The information collected from this survey could be used to inform the health sector on how to enhance healthy eating among families (Evans, et.al., 2011).

References

Childhood Obesity Facts. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm

Kushi, L. H., Byers, T., Doyle, C., Bandera, E. V., Mccullough, M., Gansler, T., . . . Thun, M. J. (2016).

American Cancer Society Guidelines on Nutrition and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention: Reducing the Risk of Cancer With Healthy Food Choices and Physical Activity. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 56(5), 254-281. doi:10.3322/canjclin.56.5.254

The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation 2010. (2010). PsycEXTRA Dataset.           doi:10.1037/e511782010-001

What Are the Health Risks of Overweight and Obesity? – NHLBI, NIH. (2012). Retrieved from

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/risks

Evans, A., Seth, J., Smith, S., Harris, K., Loyo, J., Spaulding, C., & … Gottlieb, N. (2011). Parental Feeding Practices and Concerns Related to Child Underweight, Picky Eating, and Using Food to Calm Differ According to Ethnicity/Race, Acculturation, and Income. Maternal & Child Health Journal, 15(7), 899-909. doi:10.1007/s10995-009-0526-6

Gaur, S., & Nayak, R. (2011). Underweight in low socioeconomic status preschool children with severe early childhood caries. Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, 29(4), 305.