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Essay / Childhood Obesity in New Zealand - 2619
Childhood obesity is a growing problem not only in New Zealand but around the world. This is due to many factors and has many effects on society. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30. BMI is a measurement of your weight divided by your height, the normal range is considered to be 18 to 25 and more than 30 is said to be obese . BMI became an international standard for measuring obesity in the 1980s (S.Wilson, 2000). Obesity isn't just a modern-day problem: the ancient Egyptians are said to have considered it a disease, having been drawn into a wall of depicted illnesses. Perhaps the most famous and ancient evidence of obesity are Venus figurines, statuettes depicting an obese female torso that likely played a major role in rituals. Ancient China was also aware of obesity and the dangers that come with it. They always believed that prevention was the key to longevity (L. Dobbins, December 2007). Obesity is considered a problem because it is a risk factor for many chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. New Zealand's health strategy has two goals directly linked to obesity: improving nutrition and increase physical activity (Reuters, February 15, 2008). Experts and the media are feeding us information about this “obesity epidemic,” but is there really a problem? An epidemic is the occurrence of more cases of a disease than would be expected in a community or region over a given period of time. According to the New Zealand Herald, 95% of parents consider the number of overweight or obese children to be a significant problem. In other words, there is enough evidence to say that we are indeed facing an obesity epidemic. Our children are among the fattest in the world. National children...... middle of paper ......, SB (November 2003). Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/bmirefs.htm.Macpherson, K., Silverman, ER (1997) 1997', Fatness: The Arguments By KittaMacpherson and Edward R. Silverman',. Retrieved March 5, 2008 from http://www.naafa.org/press_room/the_arguments.htmlFEBNewman, (2004). “Why are we so big?” », National Geographic, August 2004, (2004). Nzherald, (February 18, 2008) Wikipedia, (2008). Retrieved March 7, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_obesityEffects of Obesity, (2005). Retrieved February 29, 2008, from http://www.linkroll.com/obesity-help/the-effects-of-obesity-on-society-as-a-whole.php Ashworth, S. (1997). ',FAT', Sherry Ashworth, 1997, ScholasticNZ Food, NZ Children Results of the 2002 National Child Nutrition SurveyPublication date: November 2003