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Obesity in Children
This is an increasing problem all over the world, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared obesity a global epidemic. Doctors can't do much about it, and programs based in schools and specal obesity clinics haven't achieved much success either. Obesity and overweight must be prevented rather that treated -- in the home, by the family.
The Problems
Fat children have a lot of problems -- physical, psychological, and social. They get teased and bullied in school, and find it difficult to make friends. Children as young as six years learn that overweight is undesirable and start experiencing social rejection and isolation. The burden of being obese affects educational achievement and social relationships. These problems can often persist into adulthood.
Fat children often grow up into obese adults, especially if there is a family tendency to obesity. Obese people are at high risk for a number of health problems -- heart disease, high blood pressure (hypertension), joint problems (osteoarthritis), asthma, diabetes, and even some types of cancer. As obesity increases in children, the adult type of diabetes is being seen among them.
Why Is Obesity Becoming Common?
Lifestyles are changing. Children play computer games instead of outdoor sports, go to school on autovehicles instead of bicycles, and spend a lot of time watching television. Foods rich in fat and calories are becoming popular with children.
This is why treating overweight and obesity is difficult for doctors. Lifestyle and environment are hard to change. Teaching children healthy eating habits, and encouraging active leisure activities, are important in avoiding the problem.
What Can Be Done?
- Diet. Drastic dieting is bad for growing children, and is not followed anyway. A hungry child is an unhappy child; it is better to teach them healthy eating. Salads, fruits, and vegetables can be eaten freely, while calorie rich foods like chocolates, fried food, etc, should be avoided.
- Physical activity. Reduction of sedentary activities like television and computer games, and encouragement of active sports is useful. These measures, along with aerobic exercises, help in controlling and reducing obesity.
- Therapies like fibre supplementation and appetite suppressant drugs do not help, and are not recommended for children.
- Parental support. Slimming is more successful if the program is controlled by the parents. Parents can change family behaviours and eating patterns, and they should take responsibility for the eating and exercise of children.
Schools And Obesity Programs
Schools seem to be ideally placed to fight the obesity epidemic sweeping our children. Children spend several hours a day there, and are greatly influenced by teachers. A health education program in school, coupled with the facilities for healthy activity under supervision which most schools have, should be a potent way to control obesity.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Special programs need a lot of effort in the training of teachers and other staff, and time set aside from the already crowded time table for health education. After all this, all that is achieved is an increase in knowledge about nutrition and obesity; eating behaviours, obesity, lipid profiles, blood pressure, and activity levels don't change much.
One recent program involved ten schools, and found that teachers, parents, and children cooperated perfectly. They also learnt a lot about nutrition. However, the children's eating habits changed very little. They ate a little more vegetables, but less fruits. Ironically, the program was named APPLES. (Honest. It stands for Active Program for Promoting Lifestyle Education in School).
Last revision: July 15, 2007
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