Societal Factors and Role of the Government in Childhood Obesity

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about one-third of children in the United States are overweight or obese. This is especially troubling because overweight children display key risk factors of heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. Societal factors, including both social and physical determinants of health, play in a major role in determining a child's risk for obesity. Most see diet and exerise as a simple solution for childhood obesity but the societal factors cannot be addressed with this solution. Government intervention is necessary to combat the societal factors of childhood obesity.