Child Dieting and eating disorders :: essays research papers

Worried about her weight, Kristy swore glum dessert and cut back on meal portions. As do many of us all the time. Eventually, she began skipping breakfast and was just nibbling at dejeuner and dinner. Within six months, she dropped 13 pounds. A weight-loss success story? not at all. Kristy is only 10 years old. Her diet cost her 20 part of her weight.Children such as Kristy, a 4th-grader, atomic number 18 at the principal of a disturbing new trend affecting the health of U.S. children dieting. round the country, children as young as 6 are shedding pounds, scared of being fat and increasingly being treated for eating disorders that queer their health and harvest-time.With girls reaching puberty at younger ages, it has become indwelling for youngsters under age 10 to grow increasingly concerned about bodily changes and weight throw. Puberty is a time of rapid growth in a childs life. Girls and boys alike usually become curvier during this time. Females tend to gain weight on their hips, while males develop broad shoulders and backs. Therefore in that respect is often an increase in overall body fat.A ascertain by Steven R Thomsen in the Internalizing the Impossible Journal says that U.S. girls are cover signs of puberty at a younger age. A common medical checkup view is that less than 1 percent of girls under 8 place down puberty. The study based on current data from 17,000 children found flossy development in 7 percent of white girls and 27 percent of black girls between 7 and 8 years old. Between ages 8 and 9, signs were evident in 15 percent of whites and 48 percent of blacks. This is sensation of the reasons for an increase in the number of adolescent children on diets and with eating disorders. another(prenominal) reason would be the increase of obesity in the United States. During the one-time(prenominal) 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the US. In 1991, four states had obesity rates of 1519 percent and no sta tes had rates at or higher up 20 percent. In 2003, 15 states had obesity prevalence rates of 1519 percent 31 states had rates of 2024 percent and 4 states had rates more than 25 percent.Not only are the obesity rates increasing, so is the knowledge of these statistics. More and more parents are putting their children on diets so they do not become a number in these statistics.