Diet, Obesity and Physical Activity in children (literature review) Essay

Diet, Obesity and Physical Activity in children (literature review) - Essay Example These two factors of increased total energy intake and reduced physical provide the conditions that are conducive for the genetic defects trigger to act, leading to the rapid increase in obesity rates in children. The rising rate of obesity in children is a cause for health concerns around the world, with particular emphasis on the developed. It is no different in the case of Australia, where more and more children are becoming obese at a rapid rate. Estimates in recent times of the prevalence of obesity in Australia, show that the prevalence of obesity has virtually doubled in virtually a short period of time. This sudden increase in the prevalence has been put down to unhealthy dietary practices and the lack of physical exercise. The health concern with obesity in children is the tendency for obesity to continue into adulthood with all the attendant health risks due to obesity. (1). Obesity in children is reaching epidemic proportions. In about four decades between 1963 and 2004 obesity estimate rates in children show an alarming trend. In the adolescent age group it has more than tripled moving from five percent to seventeen percent, while in the age group of 6 – 11 years it has increased by nearly four times, moving from four percent to nineteen percent and in the age group of 2 – 5 years has almost trebled from five percent to fourteen percent. Current estimates from statistical data suggest that more than 22 million children below the age of five are either overweight or obese worldwide. The more pronounced statistical evidence of the growing epidemic of obesity is its rising rate even among infants in the age group 6 – 23 months, where the rate now is almost twelve percent. (2). Obesity in children was considered to be an aspect of the influence of affluence in the developed world, but such concepts are being proved wrong with the spectre of obesity looming large in