Obesity in Children

Studies have shown that about 30% of all children in America aged 6 to 19 are
either overweight or obese. That is almost one out of three young Americans. The situation in
the countries of the European Union is similar.
The body mass index (BMI) is a formula to measure obesity. It uses a combination
of height and weight. A BMI score of 25 or higher shows that you are overweight and a BMI of
over 30 indicates obesity.
If you are gaining weight it does not always mean that you are becoming obese. Children and
young adults need nutrients in order to grow, so they gain weight as time goes on. However, if
you consume more than you need and begin putting on extra weight you may be on the road
to obesity - combined with all kinds of health problems.
Here are some signs that tell you if you are at risk:

 Children who have obese parents or grandparents are in greater danger of

becoming obese than others.
 If diseases like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes or heart illnesses run
in your family you might be at risk too.
 Bowed legs at an early age can be a warning signal for obesity.
 Depression and a lack of confidence have also been connected to obesity.
 People who don’t get enough exercise and sit around and do nothing all day long
are definitely more at risk than others.

The explanation is really simple: if you take in more energy in the form of food than you use
up you will gain weight. There are, however, many factors that can influence this.
Genes determine how your body stores food and how well it turns food into energy. Our bodies
are built to store energy in fat cells for times when food is scarce. But not all bodies are the
same. Your genes come from your parents, so overweight parents are more likely to
have overweight children.
Although you may have good genes you still can become obese. One of the main causes
of obesity is the lack of physical exercise. An average child spends less time exercising than
children did ten or twenty years ago. Our free time activities have changed. Instead of going
outside and doing something physical children sit still for hours in front of computers, TV and
video games.
 High Blood Pressure: A Silent Killer

According to the World Health Organization over a billion adults around the world suffer from
high blood pressure. It is now taking steps to fight against what is called a silent killer. High
blood pressure can lead to strokes and a heart attack.
Almost 10 million people die of these two diseases every year. They are the number
one causes of death globally. High blood pressure also leads to kidney failure, blindness and
other illnesses. It often goes hand in hand with diabetes and obesity, which increases heath risks
even further.
As the WHO reports, people in developing countries in Africa suffer more from high blood
pressure than people in developed countries. The reason is that health care in the developed
world is much better organized and people go to the doctor soon enough.
High blood pressure should never be ignored and always taken seriously. It is a warning sign
from your body that something is not OK. Although people may live with high blood pressure
for years without even knowing it, it is important to check your blood pressure regularly and
take the necessary steps.
The WHO says that you can reduce your blood pressure by changing your living habits. Eating
a balanced diet, exercising regularly, avoiding alcohol and nicotine are some things that you
can do without consulting a doctor.
 Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a disorder of your food intake. It occurs when a person eats too little or
too much, or has an unbalanced diet. In most cases malnutrition
means undernourishment, a lack of food and not enough calories. It
is widespread in developing countries. On the other side obesity occurs
in developed countries where people eat too much. According to the World Health
Organization malnutrition is one of the greatest dangers of global health. Currently,
about one billion people around the world do not have enough to eat.
Malnutrition happens when people lack nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Not
enough proteins can have negative effects on a person’s growth and lead
to physical problems. Vitamins are important for good health and the functioning of
your body. A lack of them can cause major problems. Vitamin A deficiency may lead to
eye problems and blindness. A lack of calcium leads to a bad growth
of bones and teeth. Iron deficiency can affect the brain and lead to a lower IQ rate. It
can make children less active and not able to concentrate.
Malnutrition increases the risk of diseases and weakens the immune system.
It affects the transmission of viruses, including HIV. It
is especially widespread among women, children and older people. Children can be at
risk even before birth because they depend on the mother’s nutrition.
One in ten people around the world is malnourished. Eating disorders account for 60
million deaths a year, including six million children. It is the main cause of
child mortality.
One of the major causes of malnutrition in developing
countries is famine and drought which lead to the unavailability of food. Many
countries in the Third World to not have enough land to grow food on or do not know
how to use it. They do not have the money to afford imported food. In other countries
the government neglects the importance of agriculture and does not help famers.
In places with a lack of or dirty drinking water diseases, like diarrhea, lead
to indigestion of food.
Digestive disorders may also be causes of malnutrition. People eat properly but their
body cannot digest the food. In the Third World many mothers do not breastfeed their
children, thus weakening the immune system.
 Vitamins

The word “vitamin” goes back to the Polish scientist, Casimir Funk in 1912. He was
studying a substance in the layer that covers rice. This substance was believed to cure a
disease called beriberi.
Funk believed the substance belonged to a group of chemicals known as amines. He
added the Latin word "vita," meaning life. So he called the substance a “vitamine” -- an
amine necessary for life.
Scientists have discovered fourteen kinds of vitamins. They are known as vitamins A, the
B group, C, D, E and K. Scientists say vitamins help to carry out chemical changes in cells.
If we do not get enough of the vitamins we need in our food, we may develop a number of
diseases.
This brings us back to Casmir Funk. His studies of rice were part of a long search for foods
that could cure disease.
One of the first people involved in that search was James Lind of Scotland. In the 1740s,
Lind was a doctor for the British navy. He investigated a problem that had existed in the
navy for many years.
The problem was the disease scurvy. So many sailors had scurvy that the navy’s lost
some of its strength. The sailors were weak from bleeding inside their bodies. Even the
smallest wound would not heal. Doctor Lind thought the sailors were getting sick because
they failed to eat some kinds of foods when they were at sea for many months.
Doctor Lind separated twelve sailors who had scurvy into two groups. He gave each group
different foods to eat. One group got oranges and lemons. The other did not. The men
who ate the fruit began to improve within seven days. The other men got weaker. Doctor
Lind was correct. Eating citrus fruits prevents scurvy.
 The Human Heart

The human heart is a muscle that lies left of the chest . It has about the size of a fist . The
heart is like a pump that sends blood around your body. The blood gives you
the oxygen you need. An average heart pumps about 70 millilitres of blood into your body
with every beat . That’s about 5 litres every minute or about 7200 litres every day.
The heart is made up of 4 chambers . There are two chambers on each side of the heart.
The top two chambers are called the atria. They fill with blood. The two chambers at the
bottom of the heart are called ventricles. Their job is to squirt out the blood. In the middle
of the heart there is a thick muscle called the septum that separates the left and the right
side.
The atria and ventricles work together. The atria fill with blood and when they are full they
let the blood into the ventricles. When these ventricles pump the blood out of the heart, the
atria fill up again and the whole process starts again.
There are valves in the heart that make sure that the blood is pumped in the right direction.
When the heart contracts, it pumps blood from its chambers into the body. Then the heart
muscle relaxes and lets the chambers fill up.
Every cell in your body needs oxygen to live. The role of the heart is to send blood that is
full of oxygen to all the cells in your body.
The passageways that carry this blood are called blood vessels. Arteries carry oxygen-rich
blood to the cells that need it. The largest artery is the aorta. Veins carry blood back to the
heart again. It is pumped into your lungs where it picks up oxygen and then goes back to
your heart, from where it is pumped back again into your body.
It only takes about 20 seconds to pump blood to every cell of your body.
Even though your heart is inside you, you can see it work by feeling your pulse. You can
find your pulse in many parts of your body. It’s best to press your finger on the inside of
your hand, just below the thumb. You can feel a small beat under your skin. This
is caused by the contraction of your heart.
When you rest or sleep your heart does not beat that fast—about 60 to 80 beats a minute.
When you run around a lot your heart pumps more blood into your body—maybe up to 200
times a minute
 Vaccines: Antibody that Protect Us from Disease

Vaccines are substances that help the body fight off diseases and illnesses. In the past
they have helped save millions of lives around the world.
Diseases are often caused by bacteria or viruses that attack the human body. A vaccine
is a dead or very weak form of such a virus. When you get a vaccination from your doctor
the body it gets used to these weaker viruses and can produce antibodies which stay
active for a long time. When the real virus or bacteria attack, the body
becomes immune and can defend itself.
People can get their vaccinations in many forms. Very often the vaccine is injected into
your body, but vaccines are also taken by mouth or are inhaled.
Although many vaccines protect you throughout your life, some provide immunity for
only a certain time. Vaccines against the flu must be administered every year, because
the flu virus can change or may appear in a different form.
Most people already have a certain amount of immunity in their bodies. It is passed to
them from their mother. However, these antibodies do not protect a baby for a long time, so
that many vaccines are given to infants in their first years.
Some illnesses only occur in certain areas. If you travel, for example, to tropical regions,
you should get vaccines to protect you from yellow fever, malaria or hepatitis.
Vaccines have saved the lives of millions of people in the past
and virtually eradicated many diseases. Smallpox, for example, was once one of the
world’s most serious diseases, which killed millions every year. By the end of the 1970s
smallpox had disappeared completely because nearly everyone was vaccinated.
The first vaccines were created towards the end of the 18th century. An English scientist,
Edward Jenner, carried out experiments with cowpox, a milder form of smallpox. He found
out that people who got cowpox rarely got ill from smallpox. In France, Louis
Pasteur developed a weak form of rabies to protect people from dog bites. In the 20th
century polio has been wiped out completely.
Today there are vaccines for many illnesses. The most common are the flu, cholera,
the plague , hepatitis.
Although vaccination is widely available and a part of the regular health program in
almost all industrial countries, there are still countries, especially in the Third World where
people die of serious diseases. About three million children each year are killed by
diseases that could have been prevented. In developing countries almost two thirds of all
children are not vaccinated. The World Health Organization is fighting to provide vaccines
for these children.
 Zika Virus Spreads Throughout Latin America

The Zika virus is an infection that has been spreading rapidly throughout Central and
South America. Health experts think it may be the cause of thousands of babies who are
born with brains that are not fully developed.
The virus was first detected in monkeys in Uganda shortly after World War II. In 1954, the
first human was infected by the Zika virus in Nigeria . Since then cases have been reported
in Africa , Southeast Asia and some Pacific Islands.
The symptoms of the disease are

 fever
 red eyes
 headache
 pain in the joints
 rash
At the moment there is no cure for the disease and a vaccination has not yet been found.
The Zika virus may be the reason why babies are born with small heads. Their brain has not
developed in the way it should. This can prove to be fatal if the brain cannot control the
basic functions of a child's life.
The Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes, that live in the tropical areas of Central and South
America. They pass on the disease by biting people and drinking their blood. Up to now the
Zika virus has not been considered to be a threat to global health. But last year
it appeared in South America and spread rapidly across Brazil.
More than 20 countries have reported outbreaks of the virus. As many as four million
people could be infected by the end of 2016. In El Salvador,
the government has advised women not to become pregnant in the next three years.
Brazilian health authorities have stated that they are doing all they can to contain the
virus. More and more money is being put into finding a vaccine for the disease.
The World Health Organisation says that the Zika virus could turn into
a major pandemic that could spread to other parts of the world. Health authorities advise
people who live in infected areas to cover their bodies with long clothes, use insect
repellents and shut doors and windows to keep insects out.
In today's world viruses spread faster because of modern travel. Brazilian health experts
say that the Zika virus may have entered the country through a traveller who came
from Polynesia. Brazil's authorities are concerned about the virus as it
may affect the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which will be visited by
millions of people.
 The Swine Flu

The outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico has caused panic in the medical world. But what is
the swine flu and how dangerous is it?
The swine flu is a disease of the respiratory system. It is very common among pigs.
There are many different kinds of swine flu and the illness can spread throughout the
year. It makes pigs ill but hardly kills them. The virus is very active and changes often.
Normally the swine flu does not infect humans, but there have been cases in the past in
which people who were in close contact with pigs got the illness. The new outbreak of the
swine flu, however, is passed on from person to person through coughing and sneezing.
The World Health Organization says that the current flu is an unknown strain of the H1N1
virus, which causes normal flu in people. Flu viruses can exchange genes with each other
and can mutate. Thus, they change and affect different species. The latest version of
H1N1 has genetic material that is found in humans, birds and pigs.
The swine flu, as it is spreading at the moment, has the same symptoms as normal
flu. Victims suffer from fever, a sore throat, body ache and fatigue. Although people in
Mexico have died, most cases, up to now, are not very serious.
But the WHO warns that the situation is dangerous. The cases in Mexico and the US may
lead to a global pandemic, which could kill millions of people. The worst pandemic in
modern times was the Spanish flu in 1918. It infected about a third of the world’s
population and killed 50 million people. In 1968 a virus that originally came from Hong
Kong killed a million people worldwide.
In order to fight the virus successfully the flu must be treated early. In Mexico, where over
150 people died, this might not have happened. In contrast to normal flu,
the current swine flu affects younger people than older ones. There are drugs that are
used to treat the swine flu but they must be given to people before there are
infected. Governments around the world are stockpiling the two drugs,Tamilflu and
Relenza, so that, in case of emergency, they can give them to the population quickly.
Doctors do not know if a normal flu vaccine can help fight off the flu. Scientists around the
world are working on a new vaccine but it takes time to produce enough for the whole
population.
 New Vaccine to Fight Polio

Scientists have created a new polio vaccine that may help wipe
out the disease altogether.
A research study has shown that the new vaccine already produces better results
at protecting children than the common polio vaccine. It has already been tested in
Afghanistan, India and Nigeria.
Polio is an infectious disease which can deform bodies and paralyze children. It mostly
hits children under the age of 5 and can spreadquickly in overcrowded areas with
poor sanitation. There is no cure for polio. Polio is especially hard to combat because
about 90% of those infected have no symptoms at all. The disease was first discovered in
1840. Throughout the 19th century and the first half of the twentieth century polio was the
most widespread disease among children.
After mass vaccination programs started in the 1950s polio vanished in developed
countries but it has all but disappeared in poor countries of Asia and Africa.
The number of polio cases has been going down constantly in the last 20 years. In 1988
there were still 350,000 polio cases in about 125 countries around the world. In 2009 the
number has dropped to 1600 cases in four countries.
Recently , researchers have carried out experiments on new born babies in
India. According to the results, the new drug is about 30% more effective than the older
one. Besides the new vaccine, immunization programs in Third World countries have
also contributed to the significant decrease in polio. Pharmaceutical companies play an
important part in the fight against polio because they offer the new vaccine at the same
price as the older one.
While the old polio vaccine targets either one or all three types of the disease the new
one combats the two more dangerous types. Children can get full immunization with only
one dose of the vaccine. Within the next there years scientists hope to wipe out the
disease completely.
 Bacteria
Bacteria are small living things that can be found almost everywhere. They live on the
ground, in oceans, in the food that we eat and even in our bodies. They have been on earth
long before there were any other organisms .Bacteria are so small you can only see them
with the help of a microscope. They have only one cell and very simple structures.
Bacteria have outer cell walls that protect the inside. A cell membrane is inside the cell
wall. It prevents harmful substances from getting in and out. Inside the membrane is a
soft, jelly-like substance called the cytoplasm. It has chemicals that help build the parts of
a cell and break down food. Within it is the nucleoid, which contains the DNA. It controls a
cell’s growth and other activities
Bacteria appear in different shapes. Spherical bacteria are round or ball-like. Rod-shaped
bacteria live in your intestine and form chains. Spiral-shaped bacteria have
a twisted form.
Bacteria absorb nutrients and remove waste through their cell walls. They reproduce by
splitting themselves in the middle. The two new cells can then split into four cells and so on.
In a short time a single bacteria can reproduce billions of times.
Some bacteria can get inside the human body, reproduce and cause an infection.
These harmful bacteria are called pathogens. Our immune system is in charge of fighting
off these bacteria. However, sometimes we need a vaccine to help fight off
these intruders. Vaccines are weak or dead forms of the bacteria itself. Such
a substance helps our body fight off bacteria in the future. Some examples
of illnesses caused by bacterial infections are tuberculosis or pneumonia.
The best way to protect yourself form bacteria is to keep yourself clean and wash your
hands. Because bacteria may be transported by air, we should cover our nose and mouth
when we sneeze. Vitamins also help strengthen our immune system and fight off bacteria.
Bacteria can be helpful to the human body as well. They live in our stomach and help
us digest food. Other bacteria create cheese and yoghurt. Bacteria are at work in
the soil and decompose dead plants and animals.