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The Prevalence Of Overweight And Obese Children

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The number of overweight and obese children is only increasing. It is important for children to eat adequate nutrients to ensure development, growth, and health (Brown et al., 2013). Children can become obese if they lack exercise, consume high fat and/or empty caloric foods, and watch their family eat or over eat unhealthy foods. Brown et al. (2013) implies adequate nutrition can improve a child’s academic performance in school, reduce tardiness and absences by decreasing the chances of a child becoming ill. Unfortunately, Timothy is one of the children who are obese due to poor nutrition (Brown et al., 2013). He is above average height for his age, which is an indicator to why he continues to gain weight. Overweight children are typically taller than most children. Being obese risks himself to Type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (Brown et al., 2013). His body mass index (BMI) is 19.25〖kg/m〗^2 is plotted on the 95th percentile. This indicates that Timothy is obese for his age. Although his BMI is high, his BMI will change since Timothy will grow taller. His height is fifty inches, which means he is between 75th and 90th percentile, showing that Timmy is above average height. Timothy weighs sixty-eight pounds, which is on the 95th percentile and is overweight. Timothy’s parents play a significant role in his diet. It is good that his mother brings him to his physician annually, but not only does Timothy have to change his food habits; she would

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