Unhealthy School Lunch, Televeision, and Video Games Contribute to Childhood Obesity

By Kellie McClain

With obesity becoming a rising issue in the United States, especially with our youngest generation, many parents wonder what might put their child at risk for obesity. According to recent findings on the increase in childhood obesity, the two main factors contributing to weight gain in middle-school children are the consumption of unhealthy foods during their school lunch and spending two or more hours per day watching television. Differences in diet and physical activity also effected the probability of weight loss and varied slightly according to gender. While girls who drank milk everyday were shown to be less likely to become obese because they would drink milk as a replacement for sugary beverages. Boys were at a lower risk when they were a part of an active sports team. 

Many researches believe that physical activity is more often replaced with time spent watching television or playing video games. General findings on common foods served in school cafeterias have discovered that such foods are low in nutrition and high in calories. Further research is currently being conducted on the likelihood of childhood obesity in order to better identify risk factors early on that may lead to obesity later in life and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

There are existing programs that work towards decreasing childhood obesity through awareness. Project Healthy Schools aims to accomplish this by teaching sixth grade children to engage in at least 150 minutes of exercise per week, eat more fruits and vegetables, eat fewer sugary drinks, and replace time spend in front of the computer or television with physical activity.

SOURCE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130812103006.htm