Lots of scientists, researchers and professionals have been watching this growing trend for decades. Young kids, pre-teens and even teenagers have been slowly and surely gaining more weight and there are severe health consequences to this. Over the last two plus decades there has been a ton of research and studies conducted on this subject. One thing is for sure, obesity that happens in the early years is a serious risk factor for terrible diseases later in life. It is very important for parents to understand that this story is actually more involved. Clinically obese and overweight kids are going to experience effects from their condition long before they mature into adulthood.
The variety of medical problems experienced by obese young people is big. Lots of different things, including genetics, have influence here. Severely obese kids can easily develop a bunch of different problems in their bones and joints. Lots of times problems that are associated with the load bearing joints in particular will show up. The feet and knees as well as the ankles and hips in particular are subject to stress on the skeleton. Kids will experience joint pain, often in the back, as well as a constant state of low-grades of swelling around the joints. Kids and teens are very commonly diagnosed with arthritis as well.
Perhaps one of the oldest expressions out there is that kids are cruel. Most of us experienced this first hand in our childhoods. Obese children are quite a lot more likely to be forced to endure cruelty in the form of verbal humiliation and teasing. It is any wonder how these children can get through all those years of school with their sanity intact. We all understand that that kind of long lasting abuse can have severe consequences later on. The list of psychological issues these kids suffer from is quite long.
Part and parcel with the bullying and general social ostracizing encountered at school, overweight and obese children/teens are practically guaranteed to develop social dysfunction. One other term used is “social disabilities” in which there are high degrees of depression, extreme levels of unhappiness, etc. These result in extreme stress levels which are widely known to cause problems both psychologically and physically. One curious possible reaction is for some obese children to become the bully. Obviously this is the result of the kids letting their anger and frustration at being bullied themselves build up to dangerous levels. There is a real problem with kids and teens who suffer from obesity that affects other people too. It is also important to look at this from the viewpoint of cost to the overall society. Kids who are obese are probably going to grow up into adults who are obese and that means that they will have to deal with things like medical costs, etc. So this really is a social problem even though that is not at the forefront of awareness.
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