Childhood Obesity Overview

Obesity is defined as an unnecessary buildup of body fat. "Obesity is present when total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls" (Lohman, 1987). Although childhood obesity is often defined as a weight-for-height in excess of 120 percent of the ideal, skin fold measures are more accurate determinants of corpulence (Dietz, 676-686; Lohman, 1987). Skin fold thickness is a technique used to evaluate body composition by measuring a double thickness of skin at particular body location. …