It is believed that there has been a rising tendency for obese minors around the world. There are several culprits for this phenomenon, and the government and families should take corresponding solutions.
Among many reasons that lead to this issue, the rapid growth of highly processed food products and busy lifestyles seems to be the most profound. Along with the growing demand of the workforce, parents are not usually capable of spending time to take care of their children, nor preparing them homemade meals. Seeing their chance, food manufacturers have produced various ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat meals, including instant noodles, microwavable meals, and frozen pizzas. Therefore, fast food becomes an ideal choice for adults to feed their kids due to its time efficiency and affordable prices. However, fast food often comes with health trade-offs, namely obesity. Consuming poor nutrition food that contains high salt, sugar, and saturated fat over a long period would cause obesity and other health diseases, which is critical for children’s physical development.
Fortunately, solutions regarding authorities and family members could be taken to alleviate the issue. First and foremost, to prevent childhood obesity, governments should propose a campaign to raise fast food consumers’ awareness about the inevitable health problems. On the other hand, parents must educate kids about the drawbacks of it, as well as pay more attention to their diets. For example, laws that are applied to tobacco products, which require a visual health warning on each package, could also be applied to fast food in order to reduce the rate of obese minors. Second, to deal with the situation, every kid should be provided with nutritious and healthy meals and encouraged to exercise regularly, which minimizes the effects of obesity.
In conclusion, this phenomenon can be explained by the development of the highly processed food industry and the increasingly demanding labor market. However, a viable step involving supervisors and the authorities could be taken to resolve the problem.