Childhood obesity is a medical condition, which a child's body accumulates excess body fat that eventually causes a negative impact on health. It goes far beyond just being obese, children that suffer from obesity also tend to suffer from medical, self-esteem, and even from physiological issues and these issues from an early age can have a drastic impact on a child's human development. Papalia and Feldman (2012) talk about the causes, preventions and treatments, and the seriousness of childhood obesity in their book "Experience Human Development." Gutieerrez (2013) discusses how obesity can lead to many other diseases in his news article "Childhood Obesity is a Gateway to Many Other Chronic Diseases." Gollust (2013) analysis the consequences of childhood obesity through several studies in his article "Framing the Consequences of Childhood Obesity to Increase Public Support for Obesity Prevention Policy.".
Papalia and Feldman speak on the worldwide issue of obesity. They talk about obesity in different countries, obesity amoung different genders, obesity in different ethnic groups and many other subgroups that obesity impacts. The material discussed by Papalia and Feldman is not personal opinions or do not have any prejudices, it is gathered from a variety of sources, some are from government departments like "National Association of State Boards of Education" and some are from professional bodies like "AAP Committee on Nutrition." .
Content.
Papalia and Feldman discuss the causes of obesity, treatments and preventions, and the serious concern it has on children. The main causes of obesity are either lack of exercise or an excess of eating or a combination of both. They also mention that children who have parents that are overweight that it puts them at a higher risk of also being overweight or obese. Children that are obese are at risk for behavioral problems, depression, low self-esteem, emotional problems and they commonly have medical problems like high blood pressure (Papalia & Feldman, 2012).