April Is National Child Abuse Prevention Month - 30 Tips and Facts in 30 Days

With certainty, fattening kids up by making them overweight/obese is child abuse.

Nutritional child abuse is the most common form of child abuse of which we are aware. About one-third of all kids are overweight or obese. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month in the USA. To help these children, who are arguably the most abused on earth, Fitness Watch will offer 30 tips and facts – one for each day in April – directed at saving the children. Even if you are not from the USA, these facts and tips can help you and your children, too.

Today’s Fact – continuing where we left off yesterday, here are some of the physical and emotional harms associated with childhood overweight/obesity:

· Type 2 diabetes
· Metabolic syndrome
· High blood pressure
· Asthma and other respiratory problems
· Sleep disorders
· Liver disease
· Early puberty or menarche
· Eating disorders
· Skin infections
· Early and systematic social discrimination
· Social stigmatization can cause low self-esteem
· Hindered academic (learning problems) and social functioning (behavioral problems) that persist into adulthood
· More anxiety and poorer social skills than normal-weight children
· High cholesterol levels
· Abnormal glucose tolerance
· Obese children and adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults. For example, one study found that approximately 80% of children who were overweight at ages 10–15 years were obese adults at age 25 years.
· Depression
· Greater prevalence of fractures, musculoskeletal discomfort and impaired mobility

Clearly these are harms that fall under the minimum standards of CAPTA, and by extension, the harms fall beneath the standards of each state with a statute.

Sources: here, here and here.