Health Support Networks For Preventing Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity is one of the hardest challenges faced by parents, and new parents are looking for steps to prevent childhood obesity from being a problem in their kid's lives. Children today snack three times more than their counterparts about 20 years ago. 273 Children with less access to opportunities for physical activity in their neighborhoods are more likely to be obese, and such access is more limited in lower-income communities of color.
At the same time, the amount of physical activity that children engage in has been reduced by increased automobile use and time spent watching television and playing sedentary games, and by decreased opportunities for physical activity on the way to school, at school, and during leisure time.
Samuels on Obesity, page 9Woodward-Lopez, G, et al. The Research Section of Improving Children's Academic Performance, Health, and Quality of Life: A Top Policy Commitment in Response to Children's Obesity and Health Crisis Childhood Obesity in California. In one approach, community groups—or, ideally, community coalitions—should expand current programs and establish new ones that widen children's opportunities to be physically active and maintain a balanced diet.
Child Care initiative uses the National Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative (ECELC) to empower and support the growth of ECE providers as they learn, grow, and make changes to better their programs and become advocates for children's health and education.
Physical and psychosocial effects of moderate to severe overweight can include: hyperlipidemia, increased growth in puberty and then stunting, early onset of puberty in females, obstructive apnea, pancreatitis, gall bladder disease, hypertension, polycystic ovary syndrome, and long-term damage to the cardiovascular system ( Barlow and the Expert Committee, 2007 ). The 20-year epidemiologic Bogalusa Heart Study identified that atherosclerosis, a major cause of heart disease in adults, has its origins in early childhood ( Myers & Vargas, 2000 ). The overweight problem in children is also associated with poorer gross-motor development and endurance performance according to Graf et al. ( 2004 ).