Approximately 0.7 percent of Americans are suffering from obesity with at least 0.04 % being adults. Children between the ages of 6 and to 19 who become obese are increasing at an alarming rate of about 20% in a decade (Abarca-Gómez, Abdeen, Hamid, Abu-Rmeileh, Acosta-Cazares, Acuin, & Agyemang, 2017). This increasing figure is a concern since obesity is mostly accompanied by various chronic diseases which lead to an unhappy adult life. Such health conditions that affect obese people include hypertension, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes. In children and adolescents, the eventful diseases are hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hepatic disorder, orthopedic and glucose intolerance (ODPHP, 2019). Individuals become obese as a result of significant factors such as genetics, environment, social issues, culture and behavioral influences.
Targeted Subculture
This project aims at offering recommendations for the minority groups in America, especially the African-Americans and the Hispanic-Americans. A study carried out on Massachusetts state population on 2009 data in school district among children showed a mean of 0.32 students are overweight or obese (Hernández-Cordero, Cuevas-Nasu, Morales-Ruán, Humarán, Ávila-Arcos, & Rivera-Dommarco, 2017). Investigation was carried out using multiple regression model and the results portrayed that for every one percent of low-income households, there was 1.17 percent increase in overweight or obese children and adolescents. This pattern was also used to measure and observe the African-American population and Hispanic communities in the United States. The status of being obese in this study was observed to be highly prevalent among students in Massachusetts, ranging from 10 to 46 percent in communities (Hernández-Cordero et al., 2017). Additionally, the research shows that obesity rate was higher among the Hispanic communities and African-American culture students leading to a relationship disappearance when there is control in family income.
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Relation to Healthy People 2020
Healthy People 2020 aims at safeguarding the health of all Americans by initiating different projects to curb diseases. The goal is to achieve high quality and longer lives of Americans by reducing preventable conditions, injuries, and early deaths. Inclusively, it aims at improving the living environments that promote proper health standards. The topic of concern on obesity in children and adolescents as classified by Healthy People 2020 is generally put as nutrition and weight status for all individuals (ODPHP, 2019). They have established initiatives to ensure that consumption of fruits and vegetables is adequate considering the current eating patterns. This objective has mostly been emphasized to children as they grow up to ensure a healthy feeding pattern to their old age. The laws have been established to endure growth, distribution, and consumption of fruits and vegetables or vegan food especially in homes and schools who have a food program (ODPHP, 2019). The health and nutrition feeding process will ensure that there is less likelihood of developing obesity in childhood, through the adolescent stage, and to adulthood through the Healthy People 2020 initiative.
Summary of Articles
According to Abarca-Gómez et al. (2017), obesity together with overweight and underweight in youngsters is commonly related to unfavorable health conditions during and throughout life. This outcome was drawn through a study that was to establish the measure of the resulting Body Mass Index (BMI) that make children and adolescents grow from overweight to obese by comparing trends. Previously, analyses showed that there was an increase in children and teens obesity levels from 1988 towards 1994 and from 1999 to 2000. However, there showed stagnation in between 2003-2004 and 2011 towards 2012; except that there was a decline among the children between 2 and five years (Ogden et al., 2016). Results by Hernández-Cordero et al. (2017) show that a percentage of 33.50 of children below five year were probably obese while 32% of girls and 36.90% of boys between five and eleven years were obese or overweight. Additionally, 35.80 percent of females and 34.10% males in immature stages were also obese and overweight. These results show significant and alarming obesity rates in young individuals that need to be addressed with the help of governments and non-governmental organizations dealing with nutrition and healthy living.
Usefulness of Articles to the Project
The information, especially the statistics, from the articles will contribute to my study by helping to gauge the extent of obesity in the United States. More so, they will enable me to raise awareness in households and all people to ensure a healthier generation. The rationale behind this move is that most obesity problems begin from a young thus; when this information is known by parents and guardians, the issue may be dealt with early enough. For instance, the study by Ogden et al. (2016) show that children are swiftly being affected by obesity due to poor nutrition.
Approach of Reaching the Targeted Audience
The approach I will use to educate the larger population in the United States is social media. Most people today use this platform thus it could play a significant role in spreading the valuable information to the rest of the world (Abarca-Gómez et al., 2017). I will also use campaign programs that will focus on nutrition especially for children and adolescents in homes and schools supporting the objective of Healthy People 2020.
Conclusion
It is evident that obesity is a problem among the Mexican-Americans and is increasing every day, especially among children and adolescents. This situation arises due to unchecked unhealthy diets in homes and schools for young people and is recurred into adulthood or cause deaths before they mature to adulthood. It is essential to raise awareness among young parents and schools through the most used platform which is social media and try to teach them how to live a healthy life.
References
Abarca-Gómez, L., Abdeen, Z. A., Hamid, Z. A., Abu-Rmeileh, N. M., Acosta-Cazares, B., Acuin, C., ... & Agyemang, C. (2017). Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128· 9 million children, adolescents, and adults. The Lancet , 390 (10113), 2627-2642.
Hernández-Cordero, S., Cuevas-Nasu, L., Morales-Ruán, M. C., Humarán, I. M. G., Ávila-Arcos, M. A., & Rivera-Dommarco, J. A. (2017). Overweight and obesity in Mexican children and adolescents during the last 25 years. Nutrition & diabetes , 7 (3), e247.
ODPHP. (2019, March 29). Nutrition and Weight Status. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/law-and-health-policy/topic/nutrition-and-weight-status
Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Lawman, H. G., Fryar, C. D., Kruszon-Moran, D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2016). Trends in obesity prevalence among children and adolescents in the United States, 1988-1994 through 2013-2014. Jama , 315 (21), 2292-2299.
