Increasing Rate of Obesity in Australia (2007)

Essay by chillsCollege, UndergraduateB, November 2007

download word file, 5 pages 4.0

Hawker College

Human Movement Assignment 2

Energy Balance and Nutrition

Section B

Due Date

13/11/2007

Value: 20%

70876

Increasing Rate of Obesity in Australia

Australian children are growing fatter at a rapid rate. The number of overweight children has doubled in recent years. Causes of obesity in children include unhealthy food choices, lack of physical activity and family eating habits. Overweight and obesity in children are among the most important risks to children's long and short-term health. Overweight children are very likely to become overweight adults.

Here in Australia we love the open air from the outdoors, whether we are at the beach, kicking the footy or even going for a walk with the dog. However a global problem affecting countries with developed technology and high economy is obesity. Recent research has shown that the rate of overweight kids and obesity in children is increasing. But why these awful results, considering we are a very active community? There are many logical explanations.

People blame technology, inactivity, junk foods in school canteens and the cheap, high-calorie junk foods that teenagers eat, but nevertheless we still have a choice of what kind of food we eat.

Obesity in teenagers is a growing concern for Australian community and is one of the pressing global health problems that we come across everyday. According to statistics one in every five Australian is obese. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.3 million people are overweight. We need to attack this problem from its roots.

The fight can be won if schools are more conscious of the well-being of the children placed in their care and put into practice actions to fight it. However, the schools trying to correct this unhealthy way of life will not yield much results. It will take the government and children themselves...