Juvenile Obesity Causes and Its Ties to Adult Obesity Rates in the United States

In the United States, the adult obesity prevalence was 42.2% from 2017-2018 and has been steadily increasing every year.¹ The estimated medical costs for people who were obese was $1,429 higher than medical costs for people with healthier weight. These statistics only give a brief insight of the so called, “obesity epidemic” plaguing the United States. Every year obesity rates continue to increase, and medical conditions related to obesity continue to affect Americans as well. Risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, or cancers are heightened when individuals are obese. This project will explore this epidemic by tracing back to its juvenile roots. As childhood obesity is a serious problem that puts children and adolescents at risk for future health problems, and leads to obesity in their adult years as well. The analysis of socioeconomic, food industry, and school influences in relation to childhood obesity will be conducted, and insight of past and current interventions will be illustrated as well.