English Across the Curriculum
Childhood Obesity
Causes of Childhood Obesity
The explanation is really simple: if you take in more energy in the form of food than you use up you will gain weight. There are, however, many factors that can influence this.
Genes determine how your body stores food and how well it turns food into energy. Our bodies are built to store energy in fat cells for times when food is scarce. But not all bodies are the same. Your genes come from your parents, so overweight parents are more likely to have overweight children.
Although you may have good genes you still can become obese. One of the main causes of obesity is the lack of physical exercise. An average child spends less time exercising than children did ten or twenty years ago. Our free time activities have changed. Instead of going outside and doing something physical children sit still for hours in front of computers, TV and video games.
