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At a time when globalization has taken a central position in determining the global cultural affiliations and consumerism patterns, the ability to address adolescents health problems is indeed a key to future sustainability strategy.

This is due to the vast adolescents health-related problems which have a direct bearing on their social, cultural, economic, and cognitive capacities that directly impact their future and that of the country.

One such condition is obesity which has been noted as a major health problem. Adolescent obesity is a condition that develops in young adults due to excessive weight gain or an increase in Body Mass Index (BMI).

Mello, Studdert, and Brennan (2006) indicate that it is apparent that there has been a dramatic increase in obesity prevalence among adolescents in the United States.

This epidemic has also raised public attention both nationally and internationally. It is predicted that 75% of the youth in the US are obese with a higher prevalence among teenagers.

Acceding to the analysis in this topic, research has shown that there is a growing concern among medical experts and policymakers about the possible causes of obesity.

A combination of risk factors has pre-disposed adolescents to obesity. Significantly, the prevalence of obesity has eventually resulted in more serious and long-term health-related problems (Olshansky et al, 2005).

Some of the possible causes of obesity include poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and hereditary factors. Research has shown that a larger percentage of individuals who suffer from obesity as adolescents progress with the situation to adulthood.

It is against this backdrop that this paper explores in depth the concept of obesity in the United States.

Background evidence

Population of research: Adolescents ages 12-19 years of age in the United States.

Cook and Daponte (2008) in their article a demographic analysis of the rise in the prevalence of the US population overweight and/or obese presents an in-depth analysis of age-period-cohort of adolescents in relation with the prevalence of obesity.

The article reflects the problem of overweight in the use, a consideration which the authors blame on influential factors such as age and body mass index.

Of importance in the article as the authors strongly point out is the population definition of individuals with obesity in the US which points out that affects all demographic groups, but most adolescents at the age of 12-19.

Over the last decade, adolescent obesity in the United States has increased to epidemic proportions. Cook and Daponte (2008) indicate that about 14% of adolescents in the United States at any particular moment suffer from obesity. Cook and Daponte (2008) further point out that this figure has tripled in the last 20 years.

It is from this consideration that this paper explores methods of preventing teen obesity to reduce its cumulative effects on them and the country too.

Though statistics of obesity are critical, an understanding of the effects that result from it is crucial in designing mechanisms to address it.

Cook and Daponte (2008) define adolescents as individuals who are at the age of 12-19 years. It is evident that most often, adolescents face challenges while coping with issues related to diet and physical activity.

Mello, Studdert, and Brennan (2006) point out that due to poor choice of eating and exercise habits they end up developing obesity at a tender age.

Therefore, cases of obesity are very common among youths in several countries all over the world. Adolescent obesity is expressed in various ways among the youth. For instance, there are notable signs such as overweight, health problem, and lack of physical pleasure.

Health problems associated with obesity include cardiovascular, orthopedic, and sleep-related problems. Therefore, US health experts and policymakers have taken it as a public priority to control and prevent adolescents obesity

• Prevalence: The article obesity stigmatizing? Bodyweight perceived discrimination and psychological well-being in the United States by Carr and Friedman (2005) critically investigates the prevalence of obesity and shades light on the types of obesities among American adolescents.
• Prevalence: Adolescents suffering from obesity are usually at higher risk of suffering high blood pressure in their systems and Type Two Diabetes. Besides, they may also suffer from social discrimination which can lead to depression.
• Prevalence: In addition, the article further notes that the majority of obese adolescents suffer from low self-esteem that can culminate in a vicious cycle of keeping off from others; a notion that leads to spending more time indoors and gaining more weight.
• Prevalence: Empirical research conducted by Carr and Friedman (2005) reveals that one individual out of every six adolescents in the US has an abnormal body mass index. Reports from the Center for Disease and Control pointed out that in 2009-2010, 65% of adolescent females and 62% of adolescent males were obese.
• Prevalence: In 1994, the prevalence stood at 10.4%, but was seen to rise to 17.6% in 2006. Indeed, from the statistics, the difference among male and female obese adolescents is almost the same, a consideration that is attributed to a 4% BMI increase among adolescent males between the age of 12 and 19 years.
• Prevalence: Besides, other studies show that Mexican-American boys and non-Hispanic black girls at the ages of 12-19 years are more susceptible to obesity than those from other races. In this case, non-Hispanic white adolescents have a low prevalence of obesity by 16.7% and 14.5% respectively (Mello, Studdert & Brennan 2006).

• Incidences: Tsai and Waddens (2009) captivating article Treatment of obesity in primary care practice in the United States: A systematic review reveal data related to the incidences of the problem of obesity among adolescents in the US.
• Incidences: The article offers comprehensive and detailed information on the state of obese adolescents following a set of randomized controlled trials. Various occurrences of obesity have been summarized by the authors. Some of the elements discussed include modality of treatment, changes in weight as well as attrition rates.
• Incidences: Needless, to say, survey analysis has also shown that the proportion of obesity among youths has continued to heighten from the 1980s to the present (Mello, Studdert & Brennan, 2006).
• Incidences: It is also notable that health experts have found out that obesity prevalence is influenced by several factors such as race, gender, age, geographical location, and social-economic status of the youths families. Moreover, as Tsai and Wadden (2009) point out, boys have a higher prevalence of obesity than girls of corresponding age.
• Incidences: It is imperative to note that other predisposing factors increase the prevalence of Adolescent obesity. Most often, the predisposing factors are classified into several dimensions such as behavioral, environmental, and psychological domains.
• Incidences: These factors have significant implications for the health and well-being of adolescent life. It is imperative to address each category to examine how they increase obesity prevalence among adolescents.
• Significance: The significance of understanding the population definition, prevalence, and incidence information as Allison, Zannolli, and Narayan (1999) posit in their article the direct health care costs of obesity in the united states is to understand its social and economic impact and to develop a strategy that will aid in curbing the problem.
• Significance The authors of the article lament the effect of obesity on total direct health care cost in the US accounting for 5.7%. It is clear therefore that knowledge on the trends of obesity among adolescents is crucial for developing an effective prevention pram that will aid in controlling its negative impacts on society.

Behavioral dimensions

The article by Chambers and Swanson (2010) a health assessment tool for multiple risk factors for obesity: Age and sex differences in the prediction of body mass index takes a critical look at some of the behavioral factors which form the causes of obesity among populations in the US.

It is important to point out that obesity is a health problem that has been considered to develop from unhealthy behavioral patterns. The authors acknowledge that the issues of diet, body activities, and other several risk factors are important causes of obesity and crucial in determining BMI.

They conclude that while behavior patterns among the youth are factors that enhance obesity, different intervention methods must be put in place to halt the rising trend of obesity.

• Etiology: Singh, Kogan, and van Dyck (2008) argue in their article A multilevel analysis of state and regional disparities in childhood and adolescent obesity in the united states on the etiology of obesity and reveal that there are several factors some of which causes obesity.
• Etiology: Some of those factors as the article points out include behavioral etiology, environmental etiology, and policy factors.
• Etiology: The authors note that there is a crucial need to strongly alter these factors by changing behavioral patterns among adolescents.
• Behavioral etiology: These are habits developed among most adolescents and are consistently practiced putting them at risk of developing obesity (Chambers & Swanson, 2010).
• Behavioral etiology: Such factors include diet and lack of physical exercise. Research has revealed that the majority of the youths who do not take a well-composed diet do suffer from obesity. In this case, consumption of food with a lot of fats contributes to increased weight in children.
• Behavioral etiology: High intake of calories from the diet complicates the breakdown of fats in the body hence increasing the body mass index. When an individual gains much weight, the body is unable to break down the fats resulting in their accumulation in various body organs (Singh, Kogan & van Dyck, 2008).
• Behavioral etiology: From a careful review of literature, it is evident that most obese adolescents in US consume approximately 700-1000 extra calories in a day. Needless to say, such an amount is more than what is needed to enhance growth of a 12-19 year old individual.
• Behavioral etiology: This eventually results to accumulation of unnecessary pounds of calories in the body with time.
• Behavioral etiology: Another behavioral factor that is common among adolescents is physical inactivity. Empirical research done on US youths population revealed that majority of them spends more than 6 hours on television, video games and social sites.
• Behavioral etiology: Other factors that have contributed to physical inactivity include technology, weather, distance and fear of crimes. To elaborate on this, research revealed that in 1960s, youths used to cycle or walk to schools a factor that facilitated exercise (Singh, Kogan & van Dyck, 2008).
• Behavioral etiology: Currently, youths are being taken to school by buses to reduce distance, escape bad weather and avoid crimes. Moreover, an evaluation conducted on numerous schools revealed that few only few schools that provide regular sessions for physical education both in elementary and middle schools.
• Behavioral etiology: Therefore, it is arguable that lack of exercise and poor diet result accumulation of calories in the body (Singh, Kogan & van Dyck, 2008)
• Expression: The article by Wardle (2005) Understanding the aetiology of childhood obesity: Implications for treatment offers a link between the etiological aspects of obesity and its expressions.
• Expression: She indicates that an individuals behavioral pattern as noted in the above discussions plays a critical role in the development of the complex disease, obesity. This manifests in behaviors expressed by lack of fitness exercises and poor eating habits.

Psychosocial dimensions

The article by Lytle (2009) Examining the etiology of childhood obesity: The IDEA study takes a comprehensive examination of psychosocial dimensions of obesity and indicates that depression among teenagers has been considered a major problem that could lead to obesity.

The authors points out that the prevalence of obesity among adolescents due to psychosocial concerns is a major health problem. While recognizing how multifaceted and complex the psychosocial causes of obesity are.

The article highlights a few of them which include issues of lower status and depressions. As noted, Depression among teenagers has been considered a major problem that could lead to obesity.

These are factors which are related to the mind and body and are known to trigger occurrence of obesity among adolescents. Other causes shown in the article include stigma, depression and emotional traumas which expose the youths to chances of becoming obese.

• Etiology: The article Adolescent obesity and young adult psychosocial outcomes: Gender and racial differences by Merten, Wickrama, and Williams (2008) is a reflection of some of the psychosocial dimensions of obesity.
• Etiology: The authors indicate that the link between obesity and factors such as depression and emotional traumas has been confirmed to be one of the major contributions of adolescent obesity.
• Etiology: The article explores in depth each psychosocial dimension and concludes by providing critical recommendations for controlling psychosocial issues among adolescents.
• Etiology: One of the psychosocial factors that strongly come out in the article is depression. Mello, Studdert, and Brennan (2006) indicate that depression or depressed moods are common factors among the youth, factors that are caused by the relationship with others, stress, anxiety, parental obesity, parental education, household income, and their environment.
• Etiology: Sørensen (2009) concurs with Mello, Studdert, and Brennan and indicates that the aforementioned factors along with conduct disorders, self-esteem, and physical activities may cause depressed moods among adolescents and predict their obesity.
• Expression: Grimaldi and Van Ettens (2010) article psychosocial adjustments following weight loss surgery highlights some of the important components psychosocial dimension and their expressions among adolescents.
• Expression: These factors cause adolescents to go into depression and eventual obesity.

Environmental dimension

Cheadle et al (2010) article on Approaches to measuring the extent and impact of environmental change in three California community-level obesity prevention initiatives adopts an in-depth approach to determine environmental dimensions that influence obesity among teenagers.

While the authors indicate that there is still no empirical evidence linking obesity to the environment, they agree that environmental changes and physical activities among other factors can cause obesity.

One important factor they mention is the availability of unhealthy snacks in neighborhood stores where adolescents visit.

• Etiology: The article Challenges in the study of causation of obesity by Sørensen (2009) examines the environmental etiology of obesity etiology.
• Environmental Etiology: The author argues that programmed appetite highly exposes adolescents to obesity. This is whereby parents program diet for their children to increase their appetite.
• Environmental Etiology: For instance, recent investigations confirm that many families buy a lot of food away from home.
• Environmental Etiology: There has been an argument that food taken away from home has a higher content of saturated fats than that made at home.
• Environmental Etiology: This might result in overeating among youths hence becoming overweight.
• Environmental Etiology: Besides, Research has shown that youths who have proximity to fast food either at schools or restaurants are at a higher risk of becoming obese.
• Environmental Etiology: It is evident that most food products sold to youths such as snacks have disproportional levels of fats. Moreover, some beverages are usually sweetened and this increases the risks of abnormal weight gain.
• Environmental Etiology: Further investigations have shown that in more than 500,000 households in 2008, there was no adequate money to buy food and this forced the youths to rely on junk.
• Environmental Etiology: Thus research has proved that food insecurity forces youths to go for inexpensive food. In most cases, such food is unhealthy and insecure since it is enriched with calories.
• Environmental Etiology: Moreover, some youths reside in environments where they are not been monitored over what they eat. It is also evident that food marketers target adolescents through the media.
• Environmental Etiology: Much of the food products being marketed are unhealthy and insecure for consumption. Once taken, they increase the prevalence of obesity.
• Environmental Etiology: In line with this, a large number of young people lack guidance on how to embrace and practice physical activities. For instance, in many homes there lack adequate facilities that can be used for exercise.
• Environmental Etiology: Alternatively, youths opt to watch television, play video games or even join social sites.
• Expression: Davis et al (2011) article Recommendations for prevention of childhood obesity explores the expression of environmental dimensions on obesity.
• Expression: Of critical importance as reflected in the article is the fact that the authors indicate that a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors express itself in the settings such as neighborhoods in which adolescents are
• Expression: This eventually comes out of infrequent visits to neighborhood cafes to buy junk food. Besides, adolescents may prefer food banks where the choice of delicacies offered impacts their health.

Prevention

Zhang et al (2010) article Obesity prevention and diabetes screening at local health departments provide a critical look into prevention methods against obesity.

The article points out that numerous intervention programs have been implemented to decimate the spread of obesity among adolescents in the United States.

The authors point out that it is essential to apply multifaceted measures to prevent and control adolescent obesity.

• Primary prevention: Lutfiyya et al (2008) offer important primary prevention methods in their article primary prevention of overweight and obesity: An analysis of national survey data.
• Primary prevention: Primary prevention is the basic step that individuals and healthcare organizations initiate to foil the growing incidence of adolescent obesity. One such method is starting exercise programs for adolescents to ensure that their bodies are involved in some level of activity
• Primary prevention: One of the main causes of obesity among people is the poor eating habits that see them consume foods that have more fat, sugar, and salt than their body needs.
• Primary prevention: Currently, Lutfiyya et al (2008) indicate that most of the teens in the United States consume about five times more fats and sugars than people consumed in a decade ago. Lutfiyya et al (2008) continue to say that most of the foods that teens consume are not balanced and are excessive of their bodily demands.
• Primary prevention: Medical practitioners generally agree that the rising levels of teen obesity can be contained by reducing their consumption of fast foods.
• Primary prevention: Though a mechanism to effect this consideration appears to be a hard nut to crack, teens should scale down fast foods consumption because fast foods like fries and burgers have high calories, sugar, and salt content that are in concentrated quantities than they need.
• Secondary: Carraro and Garcías (2003) article role of prevention in the contention of the obesity epidemic provides readers and health practitioners with a comprehensive secondary prevention method against obesity.
• Secondary: One of the leading organizations in this research is the National Institute of Health (NIH) which has sensitized the public on how to handle obese youths and reduce obesity risks.
• Secondary: Some of the secondary prevention methods that can be employed include early detection of obesity incidences and appropriate screening.
• Tertiary: Batch and Baurs (2005) article management and prevention of obesity and its complications in children and adolescents is one of the largely recommended readings that provide key tertiary obesity prevention methods.
• Tertiary: The authors mention numerous approaches some of which include changing both the macro environment and microenvironment of adolescents, limiting sedentary behavior, enhancing physical activities, dietary change, and family support.
• Tertiary: Additionally, the authors put much emphasis on enhancing proper dieting, increased physical activity, and frequent health test to detect any genetic trait that may result in adolescent obesity.
• Tertiary: For instance, health experts have advised care providers and parents to reduce the amount of calories intake in adolescents diet.
• Tertiary: At the community level, several modifying factors can be employed by the community to reduce the spread of adolescent obesity.
• Tertiary: This involves manipulating adolescent home and school, environment by enhancing recreational facilities for exercise such as playing grounds and sports facilities.
• Tertiary: Another preventive measure involves developing a healthy culture of dealing with youth-related problems both at home and in schools. As a long-term measure, it will help to overcome psychological trauma.
• Tertiary: It is imperative to mention that parents should reduce the spent on social sites and entertainment by engaging youths with healthy activities to ensure that they remain physically active.
• Tertiary: A major tertiary prevention of obesity among adolescents is a treatment to reduce the progression of obesity to severe levels and decrease chances of vascular, metabolic, and musculoskeletal disorders.

Public health policy implication

Pomeranz and Brownell (2011) argue in their article advancing public health obesity policy through state attorneys general that obesity is certainly associated with health impacts that automatically increase cost of health care to households and government at large.

The authors of the article are conclusive that maintaining an obese child is quite expensive than provision of preventive initiatives for obesity.

Therefore, there are some recommendations made by policy makers to reduce or eliminate obesity among the youths. In this case, policy makers have come up with public laws on obesity that target to improve physical activity and nutrition among the youths.

Certain policies have been set key of which include the federal nutrition standards by federal regulators against snacks in schools and agricultural policy for farmers to grow vegetable and fruit crops.

For instance, they have come up with policies recommending that food prices to be reduced in schools and vending machine to enhance affordability of healthy food.

However, they suggest that the US government should offer incentives to restaurants and vegetarians in order for them to keep the prices low.

Additionally, policy makers recommend that schools should make physical activities attractive to youths and also to provide incentives to those who participate on sports. What are the implications of the research you have done in regards to the policies that might be implemented?

Mello, Studdert and Brennan (2006) article Obesity  the new frontier of public health law forms the material on the policies that need to be implemented to reduce obesity levels.

The reason for selecting this article is the manner in which the authors analyze various policies and presents an effective one.

As such, to effectively reduce obesity amongst the teenagers in the country, there is need for a conclusive legislative framework targeting major causes of the condition and how to reduce its high prevalence.

The government should establish regulations that require fast foods outlets to ensure enough roughage on their foods and educate their consumers on the need to take balanced diets. While this would be an effective method, a policy has not been passed to its effect.

Institutions should also be required as a matter of policy to encourage exercise by the teens in their curriculum.

In addition, health education on the causes and effects of obesity should be stepped up in institutions and the media to encourage the teens assimilate better lifestyles.

Conclusions

To summarize, it is imperative to reiterate that obesity is a devastating epidemic that results into health complications among adolescents.

Such complications include cardiovascular, convulsion and orthopedic problems.

It is notable that the prevalence of obesity is determined by numerous factors such as age, gender, race and social-economic status. However, there are preventive measures that can be put in place to decimate the epidemic.

Some of them include encouraging proper nutrition and exercise among adolescents. In addition, policy makers recommend that obesity laws should be adhered to in order to curtail the associated risks.

Annotated bibliography for the articles used

Allison, D. B., Zannolli, R., & Narayan, K. M. V. (1999). The direct health care costs of obesity in the united states. American Journal of Public Health, 89(8), 1194-9.

The significance of understanding the population definition, prevalence and incidence information as Allison, Zannolli and Narayan (1999) posit in their article the direct health care costs of obesity in the united states is to understand its social and economic impact and to develop a strategy that will aid in curbing the problem. The authors of the article lament the effect of obesity on total direct health care cost in the US accounts for 5.7%. It is clear therefore that knowledge on the trends of obesity among adolescents is crucial for developing an effective prevention pram which will aid in controlling its negative impacts in the society.

Batch, J. A., & Baur, L. A. (2005). 3. Management and prevention of obesity and its complications in children and adolescents. Medical Journal of Australia, 182(3), 130-5.

Batch and Baurs (2005) article mana

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