Over the past three decades there has been a sharp increase in the number of obese children in the United States. According to Cunningham (2014), the percentage of overweight children increased from 4.2% to 15.3% in 1963 and 2000 respectively. Obesity is a disease that in medicine we can measure as an overabundance[1] of body weight . The main causes of this disease are believed to be caloric imbalance and lack of physical activity (Dehghan, 2005). Robinson (2001) states that another possible reason is television viewing. Exacerbation of overweight in childhood can lead to more serious diseases in adulthood such as hyperinsulinemia, poor glucose tolerance, and diabetes (Lobstein, 2004). Therefore, the purpose of this article is to evaluate the following ways to prevent this disease at school: lunch programs and physical activity programs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The first possible solution for schools to prevent childhood obesity in the United States is a healthy diet based on calorie balance. School lunch programs have the potential to have a major influence on the diets of children and young adults because they eat a considerable portion of their total daily food intake (Gleason and Suitor, 2001). The SNDA-III study (Gordon and Fox, 2007 cited in Story, Nanney and Schwartz, 2009) highlighted that despite the fact that US schools mostly provide school meals that meet standards for key nutrients, such as protein, calcium , vitamins A and C, and iron, only about a third of them meet the USDA standards for total fat. Minimizing fat by following the recommendations of the US Dietary Guidelines can lead to a reduction in excess calories. The minimum number of calories in food for elementary school students should be 664, and for secondary school students it should be 825 (Gordon, 2007 cited in Story, Nanney, & Schwartz, 2009). Another solution to prevent childhood obesity is a program of physical activities. Physical activity can be described as caused by the contraction of skeletal muscles, that is, any movement of the body that consumes body energy above the basal level (Bauer, 2011). In the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) assumes that children should spend at least 60 minutes a day in physical activity. The main part of these exercises should be filled with aerobic physical activity of moderate or vigorous intensity (Bauer, 2011). First, these two solutions will be compared with efficiency. According to Brown and Summerbell [3], studies conducted to prevent obesity are increasing. From 1990 to 2005, 23 studies were carried out. During the year 2006 to 2007, an additional 15 studies were identified. The number of studies conducted in secondary schools is growing. For example, in early studies, only 6 out of 23 schools were secondary schools. However, 15 schools participated in the experiments, 7 of which were secondary schools. About a third of the studies were based solely on diet, a fifth of the study was based on physical activity, and 9 out of 20 studies combined healthy food and physical activity. In 2004, the University's Institute of Medical Sciences and Social Protection, on behalf of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), conducted a series of investigations into obesity prevention. According to these experiments, the results showed that a combined option in the form of healthy food and exercise can help.
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