The prevalence of childhood obesity continues to rise worldwide. In 2016, it reached 17% among under 5-year-olds. This figure represents about 40 million children globally. Obesity is associated with numerous health problems such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, sleep apnea syndrome, certain types of cancer, osteoarthritis, and respiratory disorders.
Obesity is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation. A body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 kg/m2 indicates that the person is overweight. Children with a BMI above the 95th percentile are considered obese. However, there is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes an unhealthy level of body fat. The World Health Organization defines obesity as having a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2.
Primary prevention is achieved by preventing the development of overweight and obesity during growth and early life. This includes promoting physical activity, limiting sedentary behavior, ensuring adequate nutrition, and avoiding exposure to obesogenic factors. Although primary prevention is important, it is not always feasible because it requires changes in lifestyle and environment. Thus, secondary prevention focuses on modifying risk factors for obesity once it has occurred. Secondary prevention involves treating existing diseases caused by obesity.
There are three levels of prevention: primordial, primary, and secondary. Primordial prevention refers to maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy BMI throughout childhood and adolescence. Primary prevention aims to prevent overweight children from developing into obese adolescents. Secondary prevention focuses on treating the consequences of obesity.
Childhood Obesity and Physical Activity
The most common causes of obesity include genetics, poor diet, lack of exercise, and psychological stress. Other causes include endocrine disruptors, environmental toxins, and pharmaceuticals.
Exercise is one of the best ways to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. It also improves fitness and helps control blood pressure and cholesterol. Exercise can be done alone or with others. It may involve walking, running, swimming, dancing, cycling, playing sports, gardening, fishing, hiking, camping, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, bicycling, rollerblading, rock climbing, tennis, golfing, bowling, table tennis, billiards, darts, badminton, squash, archery, shooting, horse riding, rope jumping, martial arts, yoga, tai chi, and other forms of movement.
Physical activity should be enjoyable and fun. The more active you are, the better your chances of losing weight and keeping it off. If you do not enjoy being physically active, then you will probably not stick to a regular program. You need to find something that you like doing.
Physical activity does not have to take up all your time. For example, if you walk to school every day, you could start at 3 miles per hour and gradually increase to 6 mph over several weeks. You can also join a gym where you can work out with weights, use machines, play basketball, volleyball, soccer, or any number of activities.
If you want to get started, try walking around the block. Walk briskly for 10 minutes, rest for 5 minutes, and repeat this sequence five times. Gradually build up to 20 minutes of brisk walking each day.
You can also go jogging or biking. Jogging takes less effort than walking but still burns calories. Biking is easier on your joints and lungs than running.
You can also swim laps, jump rope, dance, ride an elliptical trainer, play racquetball, play tennis, play softball, play basketball, play football, play baseball, play hockey, or play any sport that involves physical activity.
Strategies To Prevent Childhood Obesity
Some of the important strategies for preventing obesity are healthy eating behaviors, regular physical activity, and reduced sedentary activity. These preventative strategies are part of a healthy lifestyle that should be developed during early childhood.
Healthy Eating Behaviors
A balanced diet includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, fish, low-fat dairy products, eggs, beans, nuts, seeds, and oils. Try to eat foods in their natural state as much as possible. Avoid processed food and fast foods.
Try to avoid sugary drinks such as soda pop, fruit juice, sweetened tea, and energy drinks. Instead drink water, milk, or unsweetened iced tea. Eat fewer high-calorie snacks between meals.
Try to limit your consumption of fatty foods such as fried foods, pizza, burgers, pastries, ice cream, and French fries. Instead choose healthier options such as salads, grilled chicken, steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, pasta dishes, and vegetable soup.
Limit intake of salty foods such as potato chips, pretzels, popcorn, crackers, cookies, cakes, pies, and candy. Instead choose fresh fruits, vegetables, and low-salt soups.
Regular Physical Activity
Children who exercise regularly tend to weigh less than those who do not. Regular physical activity helps children develop good habits and keeps them from becoming overweight.
Start by taking short walks after breakfast and lunch. Increase the length of these walks over time. After dinner, spend some time playing outside. Play games such as tag, hopscotch, kickball, hide-and-seek, and catch.
Choose sports that require little equipment and allow you to move quickly. Examples include jumping rope, skipping, and riding a bike. Choose sports that involve strength training such as pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and lifting weights.
Choose sports that require endurance such as swimming, running, and bicycling. Choose sports that require balance such as dancing, gymnastics, and skating.
Reduce Sedentary Activities
Sedentary activities such as watching television, using computers, and playing video games are linked to an increased risk of obesity. Children who watch more than 2 hours of TV each day have higher body mass index (BMI) scores than children who watch less than 1 hour per day.
Avoid screen time at least 3 hours before bedtime. Limit computer use to homework assignments and schoolwork. If you must use a computer, make sure it has no screensavers or other programs that keep the monitor turned on.
Avoid sitting in front of a television while eating. Instead, get up and walk around the room. Get out of your chair and take a brisk walk around the house. Walk to the refrigerator, open it, and look inside. Go to another room and turn on lights or music.
If you must use a computer or tablet, try to work standing up. Use a laptop instead of a desktop computer if possible. Turn off the computer when you leave for the evening.
If you must drive, park far away from the store so you can walk back home. Park farther away from the store if you shop during rush hour.
Get Moving!
The best way to prevent childhood obesity is to start moving now. Start with small changes like walking to school, playgrounds, or friends’ homes. Gradually increase the amount of time you spend exercising.
How to Combate Childhood Obesity ?
Obesity is one of the most serious health problems facing our nation today. It affects nearly every aspect of life including education, employment, social relationships, and self-esteem. In addition, obesity increases the risk of many diseases including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer.
Obesity is also expensive. The cost of treating obesity-related illnesses exceeds $150 billion annually. This includes medical costs, reduced productivity, and lost wages.
What Can You Do?
There are many things you can do to help combat childhood obesity:
• Eat healthy foods. Make nutritious meals part of your family’s daily routine. Avoid sugary drinks and snacks high in fat, salt, and sugar.
• Be active. Take regular breaks throughout the day to play outdoors or go for walks. Try different physical activities such as dance, yoga, tai chi, or swimming.
• Watch what you eat. Keep junk food out of reach. Don’t let kids snack between meals.
• Set an example. Model good nutrition and exercise habits by eating well and being physically active yourself.
• Talk about it. Discuss healthy eating and activity with your child. Encourage them to be active and eat right.
• Help your child develop healthy habits early. When they are young, encourage them to drink water, eat fruits and vegetables, and limit their intake of unhealthy foods.
• Support local efforts to reduce childhood obesity. Find out how your community is addressing this problem. Learn about local resources available to help families live healthier lives.
Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs
Childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity in the United States are quickly becoming a major paediatric health concern. Schools are a critical part of the social environment that shape children’s eating and physical activity patterns.
Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs in Schools
The causes of obesity are extremely complex and multifaceted; consequently, prevention approaches must be comprehensive and engage communities, schools, and families in supporting healthy diets, increased physical activity, and healthy lifestyle behaviors for all children. Schools play an integral role in helping children adopt and maintain healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. The school setting provides opportunities to promote healthy lifestyles through nutrition education, physical activity, and other interventions. School-based childhood obesity prevention strategies can include: 1) increasing access to healthy foods and beverages (e.g., fruit, vegetables, water); 2) providing information about healthy food choices and portion sizes; 3) promoting active living (e.g., physical education classes, recess, afterschool programs); 4) teaching skills related to healthy eating and physical activity (e.g., cooking, gardening, sportsmanship); 5) encouraging parents to support their child’s efforts to eat well and move more; 6) offering incentives for healthy behavior change (e.g., rewards systems, prizes).
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that schools implement policies and practices that encourage students to consume fewer calories than they expend, limit consumption of high-calorie foods and drinks, increase opportunities for physical activity, and provide nutritious meals and snacks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified five key areas where schools can help prevent childhood obesity: 1) create environments that support healthy eating and physical activity; 2) offer age-appropriate, developmentally appropriate nutrition education; 3) ensure adequate time is devoted to physical education; 4) develop partnerships with community organizations to address barriers to healthy eating and physical activities; and 5) monitor student weight status.
The CDC guidelines for healthy eating programs include recommendations regarding school policies, curriculums, instructions to students, integration of school food services and nutrition education, staff training, family and community involvement, and program evaluation. In practice, school programs vary considerably as a result of differences in content, community involvement, financial support, and delivery. Thus, the effectiveness of such programs varies and is currently not well established. To support evidence-based health policies promoting broader implementation of successful programs, it is crucial to establish the effectiveness of school programs.
The poor success rate of adult obesity treatment programs in the general population points to the need to develop prevention approaches aimed toward children. Because eating and physical activity practices are formed early in life and may be carried into adulthood, prevention programs that encourage increased physical activity and healthful eating habits targeted toward young people need to be developed and tested.
In order to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obese children, there needs to be a focus on developing effective prevention programs. There have been many studies conducted over the last decade which have shown that there is a strong correlation between obesity and diet. Obesity is strongly correlated with low levels of physical activity and sedentary behavior. It is also associated with certain genetic factors. However, these risk factors do not explain why some individuals become obese while others remain lean. Therefore, there is still much research being done to determine what specific factors contribute to this disease. One of the most important things we can do to combat this problem is to educate our youth on how to live a healthier lifestyle. This includes educating them on proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep patterns. We must teach our children about the dangers of smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. These two substances are extremely harmful to their bodies and can lead to heart problems, cancer, diabetes, and other diseases.
Children who are physically active tend to eat less and weigh less than those who are inactive. Physical activity helps burn calories and reduces appetite. Children who participate in sports or play outside regularly are more likely to eat fewer high calorie foods like candy and chips. They are also more likely to choose fruits and vegetables instead of junk food.
Children should get at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity. This could mean playing outside, riding bikes, walking, dancing, swimming, or doing any other type of physical activity. Even if they don’t move around all day long, just getting up and moving will help them stay fit.
Eating right is an essential part of staying healthy. When kids eat properly, they tend to grow taller and gain weight slower. Healthy snacks like fruit, whole grain crackers, yogurt, milk, and cheese are good choices for kids. Avoiding sugary drinks and fast food is another way to keep your child healthy. Sugary drinks contain too much sugar and empty calories. Fast food is usually high in fat and sodium.
Sleep is very important for growing children. Getting enough sleep each night helps children feel better and perform better during the day. A lack of sleep can cause irritability, mood swings, and trouble concentrating. Kids who get seven hours of sleep each night are less likely to overeat and drink too much caffeine.