Identify one cause of childhood obesity in a London borough.
There are quite a large number of children in the London Borough of Merton who are overweight or obese. Considering the lifestyle popular among children and adolescents in the United Kingdom, there can be a few reasons why childhood obesity rates in London Borough of Merton grow.
Nevertheless, the most important reason that needs to be paid increased attention to is an excessive intake of calories.
There are many factors associated with this cause of childhood obesity in the chosen area:
- Almost unlimited access to fast food that children in London Borough of Merton have
- Lack of food culture among children and their parents
- Many children in the London Borough of Merton are addicted to food due to the flavoring additives that it contains.
Explain the pathways through which this determinant causes childhood obesity
The pathways through which the chosen determinant (excessive intake of calories) causes childhood obesity in London Borough of Merton are the following:
- There are many children in the London Borough of Merton whose parents fail to develop an appropriate daily regimen for them. Due to the lack of regimen, children are provided with an opportunity to make decisions related to nutrition on their own. In such cases, many children overeat or prefer fast food to healthier products, and it may cause the growth of obesity rates.
- Many children in the chosen area consume more calories than their organisms need in order to function properly. Considering the fact that a lot of children in London do not like sport even though a healthy lifestyle becomes even more popular, their bodies have to store the excess calories turning them into subcutaneous fat.
How does this determinant interact with other causes of childhood obesity?
Although such cause of childhood obesity in London Borough of Merton as excessive calorie consumption was chosen as the most important factor influencing situation with obesity rates, it can be stated that there is a lot of other reasons interacting with this determinant.
- Consuming excess calories and a lack of physical activity are closely interconnected with each other when it comes to obesity. In fact, those children neglecting the importance of physical activity tend to be obese more often. Apart from that, it causes a lot of concomitant diseases such as primary hypertension and ASVD
- Another factor is an inherited predisposition to such a disease as obesity. In case if both parents have quite high body mass indexes, but they eat the same amount of food that other people do, it can significantly increase the risk of becoming obese for their children. If such a child consumes more calories than necessary, the situation may have very dangerous consequences
Suggest an integrated policy intervention to show how childhood obesity can be tackled in order to influence child health positively.
As for integrated policy intervention that could have a positive influence on the health of children in the London Borough of Merton, we suppose that the given policy should involve the following measures:
- Limit students’ access to fast food and beverages containing a lot of sugar in school canteens
- Organize special lectures for children where they will be provided with information on healthy eating
- Encourage parents to reconsider their own diets in order to become a positive example for their children.