Childhood Obesity: Home

This updated edition of the groundbreaking first edition identifies changes in U.S. children and adolescents' obesity levels within the past decade, examining factors contributing to obesity in this younger generation as well as possible solutions. This comprehensive review of obesity in childhood and adolescence describes the many factors that contribute to obesity, how to prevent it, and how to manage it in those who already experience its effects. Written by specialists in biological, psychological, social, and behavioral fields, these volumes take an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, offering readers a broad understanding of the systemic complexity of obesity from a public health perspective. The public must be aware of the deep and extensive roots of the problem in order to make informed decisions about policies related to school and nutritional practices, health care costs, and more. Factors contributing to obesity in children and adolescents range from obvious ones such as quantity of food consumed and amount of physical exercise undertaken to how friendly the neighborhood environment is for outdoor activities and the affordability of nutritional foods such as fruits and vegetables. With the information in these volumes, readers will feel empowered to help their clients, families, and communities. Progressively reveals the systemic complexity of obesity Offers multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary perspectives of obesity, to include disciplines such as medicine, psychology, geography, sociology, social work, civic engineering, education, and kinesiology Raises clear ethical and moral implications of individual and societal practices Links obesity to income and social disparities Details the effects of obesity on academic achievement, self-esteem, health, and lifespan

Childhood obesity in the United States has tripled in a generation. But while debates continue over the content of school lunches and the dangers of fast food, we are just beginning to recognize the full extent of the long-term physical, psychological, and social problems that overweight children will endure throughout their lives. Most dramatically, children today have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, something never before seen in the course of human history. They will face more chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes that will further burden our healthcare system. Here, authors Jacob Warren and K. Bryant Smalley examine the full effects of childhood obesity and offer the provocative message that being overweight in youth is not a disease but the result of poor lifestyle choices. Theirs is a clarion call for parents to have "the talk" with their kids, which medical professionals say is a harder topic to address than sex or drugs. Urgent, timely, andauthoritative,Always the Fat Kid delivers a message our society can no longer ignore.

The At Issue series includes a wide range of opinion on a single controversial subject. Each volume includes primary and secondary sources from a variety of perspectives -- eyewitnesses, scientific journals, government officials and many others. Among the topics covered in Childhood Obesity: the role of government, health-care costs, fast food, parental responsibility, food marketing to children, and early intervention.