Rise in obesity among 12 to 18 year olds in the United States over the
past 30 years
Obesity is becoming a big public health issue in the world. The
percentage of obese children is rapidly increasing in the United States. In
fact, only about six percent of school-aged children were obese. That figure
rose to 18 percent in 2010. Although obesity can have many different causes,
one of the main ones among children in middle and high school is the
nutritional content of the school lunches. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
recorded that the food that children consume at school accounts for between 35
and 50 percent of their overall diet. Other statistics include 40 percent of
the students eat one or more snacks daily and 68 percent of the students drink
at least one sugary drink. That being said, it is important to study what kind
of food these kids are choosing to eat at school.
This topic is interesting to me because I am already interested in
nutrition and food in our society. Obesity has become a huge issue in our
nation more recently due to the change in diets all over the country. It is
also an interesting topic to me because it could be fixed, with creative
solution plans. Although there have been some solutions in the past, obesity
still seems to be an issue that is rising in our nation. I am looking forward
to researching more about this topic and possibly coming up with solutions to
the problem on my own.
This is a very good topic because it is obvious that is it affecting the United States in a big way. Your statistics do a great job of highlighting this point. It is good that you limited your problem definition by age, because that will add specifics to your argument. It is clear that this topic is important to you which will add passion to your paper. The more interested you are, the better the paper will be, and the easier your research will end up. I really enjoyed your blog and look forward to your paper.
ReplyDeleteChildhood obesity is certainly a major topic of public health interest and an important preventable risk factor for future morbidity and mortality. i would encourage you to further narrow your problem definition because it will be very difficult for you to discuss all the factors contributing and potential areas for intervention for such a large problem. Here are a couple of questions - what will you define as obese? Why did you select the particular age group you selected? Are the trends in the last 30 years similar? Are trends the same across the entire United States? Was "obesity" defined in the same way during the time period? Was obesity measured the the same extent throughout the last 30 years? Are the causes of obesity the same through the last 30 years?
ReplyDeleteYou have started to gather statistics as to why this is an important problem. This is great. For the next section, we will be discussing defining the magnitude of the problem. A very broad PD creates problems when gathering adequate information for defining magnitude and for analyzing the key determinates.