Obesity Awareness Among Teens & Parents

On the outside obesity sounds fairly straight forward -- the more you eat, the more you weigh; the less you eat, the less you weigh. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it's far more convoluted than it appears. Many parents and teens are not aware of the consequences of obesity and the food they eat. As well, they show a lack of awareness of what constitutes being obese.

  1. Factors Influencing Obesity

    • To be aware of whether you or your teen is obese, it̵7;s important to know what causes obesity and overweight. Obesity is not easily defined as the amount of calories you or your teen consumes, although it plays a major role. How much you eat is balanced against what your body uses and how it uses it. If you consume more food than what your body can burn, it stores it as fat for future use. How you store and expend calories -- the energy you get from the food you eat -- is affected by several factors such as genetics, your environment and your behavior, according to the CDC.

    A Growing Problem

    • Obesity is growing in epidemic proportions. According to the National Institutes of Health, being overweight has tripled among teens in the last 30 years. Currently, 17 percent of teens are obese. This stems from the influence of parents on the eating habits of their kids and how they teach their children to eat at a young age. Often parents are unaware that the type of foods they are eating and feeding their children lead to obesity and eventually health problems.

    Parental and Teen Awareness

    • Many parents are unable to assess where their children are on the weight spectrum. A 2007 study in the medical journal "The Canadian Family Physician" reported that only 62 percent of parents accurately classified their child̵7;s weight. The rest underestimated it. There was no correlation between parents̵7; income and education. As well, 26 percent of parents with overweight children and 15 percent of parents with obese children were not concerned. As for teens, according to a study reported in DiabetesInControl.com, 547 teens were asked to estimate the calories in their fast food meal. Eighty percent underestimated their caloric intake -- some by as much as 700 calories -- believing a 1,500 calorie meal was only about half that.

    Consequences and Management

    • The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry defines obesity as a weight 10 percent above what is considered normal for that teen̵7;s height and body structure. It notes that if one parent is obese, the teen has a 50 percent chance of being heavy; if both parents are obese this increases the chance to 80 percent. The consequences of being obese include Type 2 diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, sleeping and breathing problems. Management of obesity in teens and parents can start with knowing your ideal weight and your teen̵7;s. Parents can lead by example by making better meal selections, increasing physical activity, eating healthy snacks and supporting their teen̵7;s weight management effort. Consulting your physician is also a good way to start a healthy routine.

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