Abstract

Presence of excessive body fat percentage in the body than the normal proportion may be considered as obesity. The measure of Body Mass Index (BMI) is considered still as the population parameter to specify the overweight and obesity. The advent of several advanced scientific methods like Bio-impedance electrical technology etc. are able to measure the body composition more precisely and now the understanding on the obesity is more specific. Childhood obesity measure is not universal as there are several exogenous and endogenous causes for childhood obesity. The possibility of obese children grow into obese adults is more and may lead for health disaster for countries high with childhood obesity. The spread of childhood obesity seems very severe, alarming and epidemic like, the countries like Canada, USA, China, India etc. are facing this problem more severely. Increasing physical inactivity, aberrant food habits like eating junk and processed foods are the biggest factors that are causing the childhood obesity across the globe. Epigenetic studies are also indicating that the childhood obesity is mostly due to the exogenous factors of lifestyle than endogenous factors. Effective strategies to counter the childhood obesity need to be implemented with immediate effect to mitigate the economic cost and also to alleviate the misery from the premature deaths of young people. Encouragement to recognize aesthetics in daily life among children is an effective strategy to offset the childhood obesity.

Keywords:Body fat percentage; Body mass index; Childhood obesity; Physical inactivity; Epigenetic studies