Obesity

@venkatre (190)
India
October 28, 2006 1:43pm CST
Is junk food the main cause of obesity? Is it lack of exercise? is it stress? is it genetic? is it a combination of all? Or other important reasons?
2 people like this
12 responses
@annieja (589)
• United States
21 Nov 06
sugar is full of calories - when i think of obesity, one thing that comes to mind is sugar and candy.  sugar is full of calories.
i think kids now a days have too much high tech stuff for entertainment. they no longer have to think, most toys do everything for them. remember the days when we would make things up to play, like school, or build forts? television and video games, oh and computers have taken over, and there isn't much exercise in that. i also did read that food proportions are way bigger now than they were 20 yrs ago, therefore we eat more.
• United Kingdom
23 Nov 06
That's very true. This is why people should encourage their children to play properly. My kids have an hour of tv, my oldest has up to an hour on the computer. The rest of the time, I can't keep them still! I'm all for letting kids do all the "technical" stuff but we still have to teah them that it's important to do many other things.
• India
21 Nov 06
In my opinion its the combination of all the resons you have mentioned.
1 person likes this
@kaspyv (1011)
• United States
21 Nov 06
I agree I think its all of those
1 person likes this
@heartonfire (4119)
• Denmark
21 Nov 06
i think it's the methabolism..some people just get fat from everything..and usually they have something wrong functioning in their body..i can eat as much junk food as i want,i don't exercise at all...stress only made me lose weight,and none of my parents are skinny lol so it is not genetic either...it is just our methabolism ,the way our body functions work:)
• United States
23 Nov 06
It's for all or some of the reasons you mentioned.
1 person likes this
@sweety2006 (1411)
• United States
23 Nov 06
Yeah all of the combination you've mentioned. and I think it's also genetics too. What do you think??
1 person likes this
@abeerali (383)
• United Arab Emirates
22 Nov 06
Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is present when total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls (Lohman, 1987). Although childhood obesity is often defined as a weight-for-height in excess of 120 percent of the ideal, skinfold measures are more accurate determinants of fatness (Dietz, 1983; Lohman, 1987). A trained technician may obtain skinfold measures relatively easily in either a school or clinical setting. The triceps alone, triceps and subscapular, triceps and calf, and calf alone have been used with children and adolescents. When the triceps and calf are used, a sum of skinfolds of 10-25mm is considered optimal for boys, and 16-30mm is optimal for girls (Lohman, 1987). Causes of Childhood Obesity As with adult-onset obesity, childhood obesity has multiple causes centering around an imbalance between energy in (calories obtained from food) and energy out (calories expended in the basal metabolic rate and physical activity). Childhood obesity most likely results from an interaction of nutritional, psychological, familial, and physiological factors. The Family The risk of becoming obese is greatest among children who have two obese parents (Dietz, 1983). This may be due to powerful genetic factors or to parental modeling of both eating and exercise behaviors, indirectly affecting the child's energy balance. One half of parents of elementary school children never exercise vigorously (Ross & Pate, 1987). Low-energy Expenditure The average American child spends several hours each day watching television; time which in previous years might have been devoted to physical pursuits. Obesity is greater among children and adolescents who frequently watch television (Dietz & Gortmaker, 1985), not only because little energy is expended while viewing but also because of concurrent consumption of high-calorie snacks. Only about one-third of elementary children have daily physical education, and fewer than one-fifth have extracurricular physical activity programs at their schools (Ross & Pate, 1987). Heredity Since not all children who eat non-nutritious foods, watch several hours of television daily, and are relatively inactive develop obesity, the search continues for alternative causes. Heredity has recently been shown to influence fatness, regional fat distribution, and response to overfeeding (Bouchard et al., 1990). In addition, infants born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active and to gain more weight by age three months when compared with infants of normal weight mothers, suggesting a possible inborn drive to conserve energy (Roberts, Savage, Coward, Chew, & Lucas,
@pumpkinjam (8539)
• United Kingdom
23 Nov 06
I think junk food is a huge cause of obesity and, for the majority of people it is probably the main cause. But I do think that other factors are just as important for some people. There are people who have illnesses, genetic disorders, etc. who can not help being overweight. I think stress tends to cause weight loss rather than gain. Certainly lack of exercise wouldn't help. I think the biggest problem would be the combination of not exercising and not eating correctly because, usually exercising and healthy eating are complimentary to each other.
23 Nov 06
I think it's a combination of too many readily available fast foods and pre made meals along with a lazy culture who sit in front of the TV and computer looking for an easy way to get in shape.
@abeerali (383)
• United Arab Emirates
22 Nov 06
Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is present when total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls (Lohman, 1987). Although childhood obesity is often defined as a weight-for-height in excess of 120 percent of the ideal, skinfold measures are more accurate determinants of fatness (Dietz, 1983; Lohman, 1987). A trained technician may obtain skinfold measures relatively easily in either a school or clinical setting. The triceps alone, triceps and subscapular, triceps and calf, and calf alone have been used with children and adolescents. When the triceps and calf are used, a sum of skinfolds of 10-25mm is considered optimal for boys, and 16-30mm is optimal for girls (Lohman, 1987). Causes of Childhood Obesity As with adult-onset obesity, childhood obesity has multiple causes centering around an imbalance between energy in (calories obtained from food) and energy out (calories expended in the basal metabolic rate and physical activity). Childhood obesity most likely results from an interaction of nutritional, psychological, familial, and physiological factors. The Family The risk of becoming obese is greatest among children who have two obese parents (Dietz, 1983). This may be due to powerful genetic factors or to parental modeling of both eating and exercise behaviors, indirectly affecting the child's energy balance. One half of parents of elementary school children never exercise vigorously (Ross & Pate, 1987). Low-energy Expenditure The average American child spends several hours each day watching television; time which in previous years might have been devoted to physical pursuits. Obesity is greater among children and adolescents who frequently watch television (Dietz & Gortmaker, 1985), not only because little energy is expended while viewing but also because of concurrent consumption of high-calorie snacks. Only about one-third of elementary children have daily physical education, and fewer than one-fifth have extracurricular physical activity programs at their schools (Ross & Pate, 1987). Heredity Since not all children who eat non-nutritious foods, watch several hours of television daily, and are relatively inactive develop obesity, the search continues for alternative causes. Heredity has recently been shown to influence fatness, regional fat distribution, and response to overfeeding. In addition, infants born to overweight mothers have been found to be less
@abeerali (383)
• United Arab Emirates
22 Nov 06
Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is present when total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls (Lohman, 1987). Although childhood obesity is often defined as a weight-for-height in excess of 120 percent of the ideal, skinfold measures are more accurate determinants of fatness (Dietz, 1983; Lohman, 1987). A trained technician may obtain skinfold measures relatively easily in either a school or clinical setting. The triceps alone, triceps and subscapular, triceps and calf, and calf alone have been used with children and adolescents. When the triceps and calf are used, a sum of skinfolds of 10-25mm is considered optimal for boys, and 16-30mm is optimal for girls (Lohman, 1987). Causes of Childhood Obesity As with adult-onset obesity, childhood obesity has multiple causes centering around an imbalance between energy in (calories obtained from food) and energy out (calories expended in the basal metabolic rate and physical activity). Childhood obesity most likely results from an interaction of nutritional, psychological, familial, and physiological factors. The Family The risk of becoming obese is greatest among children who have two obese parents (Dietz, 1983). This may be due to powerful genetic factors or to parental modeling of both eating and exercise behaviors, indirectly affecting the child's energy balance. One half of parents of elementary school children never exercise vigorously (Ross & Pate, 1987). Low-energy Expenditure The average American child spends several hours each day watching television; time which in previous years might have been devoted to physical pursuits. Obesity is greater among children and adolescents who frequently watch television (Dietz & Gortmaker, 1985), not only because little energy is expended while viewing but also because of concurrent consumption of high-calorie snacks. Only about one-third of elementary children have daily physical education, and fewer than one-fifth have extracurricular physical activity programs at their schools (Ross & Pate, 1987). Heredity Since not all children who eat non-nutritious foods, watch several hours of television daily, and are relatively inactive develop obesity, the search continues for alternative causes. Heredity has recently been shown to influence fatness, regional fat distribution, and response to overfeeding (Bouchard et al., 1990). In addition, infants born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active and to gain more weight by age three months when compared with infants of normal weight mothers, suggesting a possible inborn drive to conserve energy (Roberts, Savage, Coward, Chew, & Lucas,
21 Nov 06
all the things you mentioned are the cause of obesity...to much junk food, not enough excercise..and alot of times it is genetic.
1 person likes this
@squrrly26 (556)
• United States
22 Nov 06
personally I think it is laziness and people not wanting to cook a healthy meal.