Childhood Obesity in the United States

What is the biggest threat as of today in the United States? Some may say war, terrorists or drugs. However, obesity is the most dangerous threat for United States citizens. I will be summarizing an academic study for my journalism class this week. Therefore, I have decided to focus on a passion of mine – the childhood obesity epidemic in America.

The authors chose to use several methods to inform the audience of the obesity crisis. Data obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey exposed that approximately 17 percent of American children (ages 6 to 11) were considered obese. Furthermore, since 1979, childhood obesity rates have increased by approximately 300 percent. With childhood obesity comes a number of medical conditions including stroke, arthritis, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
Next, the authors reviewed major newspaper articles (i.e., The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle, The New York Times, and The San Francisco Chronicle) for the number of stories over the years pertaining to childhood obesity. In 1996, a total of eight stories were published regarding childhood obesity. However, 10 years later, a total of 149 stories were published throughout the major newspapers.

There are a handful of reasons for the obesity epidemic throughout the United States. Often, poverty is a main cause of childhood obesity. Children with working parents also suffer from obesity. However, newspapers often disregard this valuable information regarding childhood obesity. Only 60 percent of the stories not obtaining childhood obesity preventatives suggested the epidemic is associated with poverty and parents working outside of the home. Often, news producers remain silent on how to address the possible risk factors. By ignoring crucial information, it is impossible to believe the obesity rate among United States youth will decrease.

Childhood obesity must continue to be addressed by powerful and influential media sources. Providing families with crucial knowledge about what causes obesity in children will prove beneficial. Social and economic factors involving childhood obesity continue to be ignored. We must lift the veil and address the real reasons for obesity in the United States. Remaining ignorant about the causes of this epidemic will further harm our youth.

The results from this study should be treated with caution because other time periods apart from 1996 and 2006 were not reviewed. Furthermore, the research did not explore or utilized the information in the reviewed news stories. Additional research should be done to make research more reliable and credible.