BLog #7: Childhood obesity in the world

Hi steemit friends:

Today, I would like to talk to you about Childhood obesity in the world.

Firstly, I will introduce obesity in children and the situation of obese children in the world..

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what is "childhood obesity"? and how to identify obese children.

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As you know, Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. The prevalence has increased at an alarming rate.

According to the World Health Organization( WHO) : “Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or well-being.”

The term overweight rather than obese is often used in children as it is less stigmatizing.
As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI:

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of height. For children and teens, BMI is age- and sex-specific and is often referred to as BMI-for-age.

From the BMI classification table, you can see:

• If the BMI is greater than or equal to 25, the body is overweight
• If the BMI is greater than or equal to 30, the body is obese.

Obesity is divided into three levels: class 1, class 2, class 3 as shown on the slide
A high BMI can be an indicator of high body fatness.

After BMI is calculated for children and teens, it is expressed as a percentile which can be obtained from either a graph or a percentile calculator. Because weight and height change during growth and development, as does their relation to body fatness, a child’s BMI must be interpreted relative to other children of the same sex and age.

The number of obese children and adolescents rose to 124 million in 2016: more than 10 times higher than the 11 million classified as obese 40 years ago, in 1975.

But for children under five, it is quite the opposite. The vast majority of overweight or obese children live in developing countries.

Without intervention, obese infants and young children will likely continue to be obese during childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

The Second, let's find out:

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what causes the child to be overweight or obese.

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There are 3 main causes for overweight or obesity: Genetics, daily diet, Physical Activity and Lifestyle.

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Genetics

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-According to some studies, During pregnancy, gestational diabetes (a form of diabetes occurring during pregnancy) may result in increased birth weight and risk of obesity later in life.

-Children who are born to one obese or overweight parent have a 50% chance of becoming obese or overweight. If both parents are obese or overweight, the child has an 80% chance of becoming obese or overweight.

-Many parents like to blame genetics for their child’s weight issues. However The reality is that most childhood obesity cases are not genetic at all and mainly center around lifestyle factors such as a poor diet and a lack of exercise.

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Daily diet

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This is probably the leading cause of obesity in children

-Poor Diet: This includes processed foods, cereals packed with sugar, fast food, juices, and snacks loaded with sugar like cookies and candy,...

-Feeding infants energy-dense, high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods

-Longstanding cultural norms may encourage families to over-feed their children
The sad fact is that the parents are actually endangering their own kids with all of the processed high-fat, high-sugar foods that they feed them or allow them to eat. Many parents are just too busy or don’t really even care and they are allowing their children to completely control their own diets. Many children eat fast food every single day because that’s their normal routine and they are exceeding their daily caloric intake by hundreds, if not thousands of calories! Most of the fast food items have very little nutritional value.

Choosing healthy foods for infants and young children is critical because food preferences are established in early life. Feeding infants energy-dense,...

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Physical Activity and Lifestyle

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Lack of Physical Activity and Lifestyle Changes – 77% of all children do not get enough exercise.

Nowadays, kids rarely go outside and play. Instead, they are fixated on watching TV, playing video games…

A lack of physical activity and a poor diet are clearly the driving force in the epidemic of overweight and obese children. The reality is that most children are completely sedentary and this inactivity easily leads to weight gain.

Obesity of children can lead to many serious complications.

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Obese children are more likely to develop a variety of health problems as adults.

These include:

•Type-2 diabetes.
•Heart disease.
•High blood pressure.
•Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
•Osteoarthritis (a health problem causing pain, swelling, and stiffness in one or more joints).
•Some types of cancer (breast, colon, kidney).
•Disability,...

Overweight and obesity are largely preventable. Supportive policies, environments, schools and communities are fundamental in shaping parents’ and children’s choices, making the healthier choice of foods and regular physical activity the easiest choice (accessible, available and affordable), and therefore preventing obesity.

For infants and young children, WHO recommends:

•Early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth
•Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life;
•The introduction of nutritionally-adequate and safe complementary (solid) foods at 6 months together with continued breastfeeding up to two years of age or beyond

Foods for the baby can be specially prepared or modified from family meals. Complementary foods high in fats, sugar and salt should be avoided.

School-aged children and adolescents should:

•Limit energy intake from total fats and sugars;

•Increase consumption of fruit and vegetables, as well as legumes, whole grains and nuts;

•Engage in regular physical activity (60 minutes a day).

The food industry can play a significant role in reducing the fat, sugar and salt content of complementary foods and other processed foods:

•Ensuring that healthy and nutritious choices are available and affordable to all cónumers.

•Practicing responsible marketing especially those aimed at children and teenagers.

It is hoped that the information will help people to prevent and handle the risk factors in time. Thank you for reading. If you like this article and would like to write more articles on health topics, please comment!

Better use medicines at the outset than at the last moment!

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^{Refer to the previous post:}

^{1: Children eye injuries
2: Burn and prevention
3: Depression
4: Pneumonia in children
5: Effects of climate change on human health
6: Pneumonia and Diarrhea of young children}

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