In western world, the population of overweight children has grown by approximately 20% within the last decade. There are several reasons contributing to this problems, as well as potentially drastic long-term effects.
Poor lifestyle choice is currently seen in today’s society, particularly for children. Unhealthy diets and excessive eating are one of the main reasons for their unhealthy weight. At the moment, children are exposed to a lot of fast food chains and colorful sugary food content from social media, which limits their food option. Additionally, the awareness regarding the nutrition needed is not spread accordingly towards the children’s guardians. In fact, there are significant numbers of parents that still cooks ultra-processed food for their children’s whole-day meals, that lead to their uncontrolled weight gain.
Without treatment, this issue will soon have serious long-term consequences. Firstly, diseases or genetic mutation that can affect the future generations. Obesity, which is one of the results of being an overweight, can lead to diabetes, that can be inherited through their heir. Secondly, an increasing fiscal burden for the public. Owing to the future demands for health services, additional healthcare coverage and programs must be imposed by the governments, which will be burden by the public, resulting in higher taxes.
To summarize, poor consumption habits and limited nutritional knowledge, have certainly contributed to the increased number of overweight children. If not properly taken, this would lead to various long-term effects for the future generations.