Childhood obesity has never been as high as it is today. Over the last thirty years obesity in children has nearly tripled. Some think of obesity as a minor personal defect when in reality it is becoming a major heath problem. Obesity is actually the second leading cause of preventable deaths. Approximately 300,000 deaths per year can be blamed on obesity. Researchers are still working hard to find the main cause of childhood obesity. If these rates do not stop increasing our children may not have much to look forward to. If we do not do something to prevent it now, who knows what will happen in the future. .
Modern-day mothers do not typically stay at home anymore; they now have extremely busy lives, most of which involve away from home careers. Some experts say that due to the fact that mothers work out of the home, they have less time to plan out low calorie, well balanced meals. They also have a lot less time to oversee their child's diet and exercise programs. Children typically tend to be less active and snack a lot more when they are unsupervised. One convieniece that mothers often over use is the very popular fast food industry. If they don't have time to make dinner, they just go out and pick up a convenient happy meal. Mothers don't even realize how bad that fast food really is for their children. Fast food is defined as anything with high saturated fats and basically no nutritional value. Research shows that there is a positive correlation between fast food .
consumption and body weight. Maybe if fathers took a little more responsibility at home they could help when mothers are working to make sure the children are eating properly and getting enough exercise. In most homes unfortunately mothers have to take pretty much all of the responsibilities for their children's diets, which is very unfair.
The availability of junk food has drastically increased also. Vending machines are everywhere you look; they are located in waiting rooms, malls, schools, as well as numerous other sites around every community.