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Introduction
Obesity is about much more than just being fat. It is a global epidemic with serious health, social and economic consequences.[1,2] Before they reach the age of five, 40 million of the world's children will have become obese.[3] Today it is widely documented that 25% of Australia's children are obese or overweight.[4-6] Obesity has also become Australia's single biggest threat to public health.[6]
Body weight is commonly classified using Body Mass Index (BMI).[7] One standard for obesity is a BMI greater than or equal to 30. Obesity is also defined as an excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health.[7] When we consider that this presentation is often the result of an excessive caloric intake with a deficit in energy expenditure, it is startling to consider that a health and social epidemic which is essentially preventable is actually on the rise.
With a focus on childhood obesity between the ages of nought and 18, this paper explores the causes, results and management strategies associated with its presentation. It will also discuss the role of the health professional in relation to obesity and attempt to shed light on the difficulties associated with monitoring, caring for and preventing obesity.
Prevalence Of Obesity
One quarter of Australia's children are currently obese, up 4% from 1996. [4,7] Ranging from 3% and 4% in the developed nations of Japan and Korea to over 30% in the USA, obesity is now also prevalent in developing nations, which account for 10 million of the 40 million obese children worldwide. Although this pattern of increase is generally accepted and expected to continue,[4] there are a number of studies which question the legitimacy of these statistics. Although the BMI is the current unified measure to determine obesity, inconsistent BMI percentile bands, the use of waist-toheight ratios and absence of age, gender and growth classifications are creating unreliable data.[8] Further to this, there are likely to be errors from self-reported data collection when individuals weigh and measure themselves.[9,10] Current statistical data may also be flawed because of lack of participation of those overweight individuals who are unprepared to participate because of social stigma.[10,11]
Rather than an exponential growth of obesity, some authors argue that obesity trends will not follow the expected trajectory.[9-11]...