The western society’s report shows that the percentage of obesity among children has witnessed a 20% increase compared to the last ten years. This phenomenon, which can be attributed to some possible causes, is able to cause a number of serious problems.
There are many causes that can be blamed for the higher percentage of overweight children. One of these is the rising popularity of junk food among this group. Nowadays the fast food industry is highly advanced, with many famous fast food brands in the West like KFC or McDonald’s. Such popularity enables young people to consume these foods since they were small. Then, with a delicious taste, it easily attracts kids and teenagers. In addition, as modern parents are often busy, they frequently let their children eat junk food instead of cooking for them, so they are used to eating these products. However, junk food has been proved by many scientists to potentially cause obesity. Therefore, the more children eat it, the more children will suffer from being overweight. Another reason can be used to explain the problem is the lack of exercise. This comes from the laziness caused by the increasing kids’ addiction to video games. Particularly, children addicted to games prefer staying in their room with their computers or mobile phones instead of going outside. Additionally, it can also be reasoned because of the lack of public space like parks or squares. As a result, children do not have a place to come outside to work out or play with friends. This will lead to the sedentary lifestyle, which is the main reason for obesity among many children.
The rising percentage of overweight children has caused many serious issues for both themselves and the society. Initially, people who are overweight are also at risk of many physical health problems like heart diseases or respiratory diseases. Due to this, when the number of people suffering from obesity goes up, there will be more people having such problems, then healthcare systems will be burdened much more heavily. In addition, more people becoming overweight also leads to the rise of stigma among children. Obese children, especially teenagers are often the victims of stigma and bullying at school. For example, they are often body and appearance shamed harshly by their classmates, making many of them feel low self-esteem. More critically, they will have mental health issues like depression and even someone will choose to suicide. So that, if the percentage of obesity among children increases, it will directly exert an adverse bearing on the lives of such children.
In conclusion, the increasing proportion of obese children stems from many reasons, two of which are the popularity of fast food and the shortage of exercise. This phenomenon can create many urgent issues like putting a burden on healthcare and increasing social exclusion among kids and teenagers.