PHN 652 Topic 6 DQ 2
One of the most prevalent public health challenges facing the US in contemporary times is the childhood obesity epidemic. The childhood obesity epidemic affects different segments of society. The childhood obesity epidemic has also attracted the interest of governments and non-governmental institutions that have sought to address the public health problem (Lambrinou et al., 2020). The control of childhood obesity is a complex process because many risk behaviors will be involved in the onset of childhood obesity. Multiple environments will also affect the onset of childhood obesity, while multiple intervention strategies might also be required. Various interventions have already been adopted to help reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity in the US, with most of such strategies involving treating obesity after onset. One of the main interventions that have been adopted to treat obesity after onset has been interventions promoting more physical activities in schools and a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables. Most communities across the US, including school districts, have therefore adopted interventions to promote more physical activities in schools in a bid to help overweight children to lose weight (Curry et al., 2018). Several communities in the US have also adopted interventions to promote the consumption of a healthy diet, including fruits and vegetables, to prevent childhood obesity (Curry et al., 2018).
However, despite the interventions that have already been adopted to reduce childhood obesity, such as the promotion of physical exercises and promotion of a healthy diet, better interventions can help to enhance the outcomes of the target population. A uniform ban on the advertising of unhealthy food products such as fast foods and soft drinks to children and the general population can therefore help significantly to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity in the US.
References
Curry, S. J., Krist, A. H., Owens, D. K., Barry, M. J., Caughey, A. B., Davidson, K. W., Doubeni, C. A., Epling, J. W., Grossman, D. C., Kemper, A. R., Kubik, M., Landefeld, C. S., Mangione, C. M., Phipps, M. G., Silverstein, M., Simon, M. A., Tseng, C. W., & Wong, J. B. (2018). Behavioral Weight Loss Interventions to Prevent Obesity-Related Morbidity and Mortality in Adults. JAMA, 320(11), 1163. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.13022
Lambrinou, C. P., Androutsos, O., Karaglani, E., Cardon, G., Huys, N., Wikström, K., Kivelä, J., Ko, W., Karuranga, E., Tsochev, K., Iotova, V., Dimova, R., de Miguel-Etayo, P., M. González-Gil, E., Tamás, H., JANCSÓ, Z., Liatis, S., Makrilakis, K., & Manios, Y. (2020). Effective strategies for childhood obesity prevention via school based, family involved interventions: a critical review for the development of the Feel4Diabetes-study school based component. BMC Endocrine Disorders, 20(S2). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12902-020-0526-5
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