A US Federal Policy that taxes sugary sodas, according to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, would reduce the prevalence of child obesity by 2032.
The study looked in to certain criteria that first drew 3 among 26 recommendations for the federal policy that seeks to keep child obesity at bay are a $0.01/ounce sugar sweetened beverage, after school physical activity programs and the ban on child-directed fast food TV commercials.
Literature and statistics from January 2000 through July 2012 for each of the 3 recommendations. On 2012 a Markov microsimulation was conducted in order to mend the literature with actual outcomes where the tested population's BMI was closely monitored.
At the end of the microsimulation, it has been found out that exercising the $0.01/ounce sugar sweetened beverage task has the best efficiency resort at 2.4 percentage points. After school physical activity programs yielded 1.8 percentage points. While the child-directed fast food commercial ban is the least effective at 0.9 percentage points.
According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, child obesity has doubled in children for the past 30 years. This causes a domino effect where in the same span of 30 years the prevalence of the complication of obesity has risen.
In a report rendered by the MayoClinic the complications of child obesity include type 2 diabetes, asthma and other breathing disorders, sleep disorders including obstructive apnea, nonalcoholic fatty liver and premature puberty or menstruation and metabolic syndrome.
Child obesity does not only affect the physical health of an affected individual. It hurts their emotional health as well. In fact, it has been found out that children who are or were obese have low self esteem and are more prone to bullying.
Since sleeplessness and other physical complications causes any overweight child discomfort, the academic performance of affected children is also jeopardized.
