Childhood Obesity: a world wide concern

Definition of Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is a condition that develops when kids or teenagers take in more food calories than their bodies burn up. The most typical assessment of obesity is made by calculating an individual's body mass index (BMI). Although obesity in adults is measured by the body mass index (BMI), which does not take age and sex into account, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) measure overweight and obesity in kids and adolescents by percentiles of BMI. The CDC has compiled growth charts on the basis of BMI for boys and girls at specific ages. The percentile indicates the relative position of the child's BMI number among children of the exact same sex and age.

In screening kids for overweight or obesity, the 85th percentile is regarded as an indicator that a child is "at risk" for overweight. A BMI above the 95th percentile is defined as "overweight." The American Obesity Association (AOA) uses the CDC's 95th percentile cutoff as the definition of "obesity," not just "overweight."

You will find also some researchers who define obesity in kids as body weight a minimum of 20 percent higher than a healthy weight for a child of that height, or a body fat percentage above 25 percent in boys or above 32 percent in girls. A child's primary care physician may use any or all of these standards for evaluating regardless of whether an overweight child is obese.

Description

Childhood obesity, once a rare condition, has become a main public health concern in the United States along with other developed countries. It is a serious health problem not only simply because it virtually guarantees a lifelong struggle with weight when the young person reaches adulthood but also simply because it leads directly to diseases and disorders once seen only in adults, including asthma, type 2 diabetes, skin rashes, high blood pressure, liver disorders, and high blood cholesterol levels. In addition to physical problems, obese children are also at risk of depression and other psychological problems related to teasing and criticism of their appearance. Depression in turn can lead to difficulties in school and lifelong underachievement.

Demographics

The percentage of overweight and obese kids in North America has tripled since the mid-1970s. In 1976 the percentage of kids (defined as youngsters between the ages of six and eleven) defined as obese was 7 percent, and the percentage of obese adolescents (ages twelve to nineteen) was 5 percent. By 1988 11 percent of young people in both age groups had been obese, and by 2000 the percentages were 15.3 percent for kids and 15.5 percent for adolescents.

Those figures mean that one American child in every six is obese. Childhood obesity appears to be more common in girls than in boys, but is more obvious in boys because fat in boys tends to accumulate on the chest and stomach rather than being more widely distributed to other parts of the body. Childhood obesity is more typical in African American, Hispanic, and Native American kids than in Asian or Caucasian kids. It is also more typical in kids from families with lower family incomes.

Childhood Obesity: Causes and Symptoms

Genetics is one factor influencing childhood obesity that can't be changed. Having at least one parent who is obese increases a child's risk of obesity throughout life. Researchers disagree, nevertheless, on the importance of genetics as a factor in obesity. Some doctors have pointed out that the rapid rise in the rate of childhood obesity within 3 decades could not be caused by genetic elements alone. One study reported that 41.95 percent of the children in the study with normalweight mothers had been obese or overweight while 34.25 percent of kids with normal-weight fathers were obese or overweight.

Most doctors in the early 2000s regard childhood obesity as the result of a combination of genetic elements and behaviors (food options, exercise, and eating habits). A little percentage of overweight children (much less than 10 percent) turn out to be obese simply because of metabolic or genetic disorders.

These disorders include Cushing syndrome, caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland; Turner syndrome; achondroplasia (dwarfism); disorders of the thyroid gland; and Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by mental retardation and an abnormally large appetite for food. In a few cases kids turn out to be obese as a side effect of medications given to treat rheumatoid arthritis and a few other diseases. Most doctors believe that the most important elements in childhood obesity are:

Poor food options. The simple availability of quick foods and junk foods, combined with parents' allowing children to select their own foods at house instead of eating shared meals with the family, is one reason why numerous kids become obese.
Lack of exercise. The popularity of computers, video games, and television as leisure-time activities means that the average child is now much much less active than a child in the 1970s. Numerous children spend as much as four hours a day watching television. Researchers studying a group of 133 kids in a suburban community discovered that the obese children had been 35 percent much less active on school days and 65 percent less active on weekends compared to kids of normal weight.
Psychological factors. Some kids learn to use food to calm or comfort themselves when they feel lonely or anxious, in some cases by watching their parents eating when they feel stressed. Regrettably, stress-related eating sets up a vicious circle in which the child's weight gain frequently leads to further loneliness or greater anxiety, and more eating.
Sleep deprivation. Children who do not get enough sleep do poorly in school, which in turn can lead to low self-esteem and overeating.
Social elements. Get-togethers and other family or group activities centered on food (holiday meals and parties, etc.); advertisements in the mass media that encourage overeating or poor food choices; and schools that have cut back on physical education programs.
Economic elements. Low family income and obesity are often associated because low-income parents might lack the time and resources to make healthful eating habits and exercise a family priority.

Diagnosis of Childhood Obesity

The diagnosis of childhood obesity may be based on the CDC body mass index tables for children and adolescents or on other measurements. One common test involves measuring the thickness of the skin fold over the triceps muscle on the upper arm, although this measurement may not be accurate unless performed by a trained technician. An additional test involves measuring the child's waist circumference at its widest point, generally at or just below the belly button. If the waist measurement is above the 90th percentile for the child's age and sex, the child is at increased risk of kind 2 diabetes and also the health complications that accompany it.

Childhood Obesity: Treatment

Treatment of childhood obesity is broad-based and involves the entire family, not just the affected child or teenager. The child's pediatrician can help draw up a treatment plan. Most plans include the following:

A reasonable weight loss objective for the child, no more than 1-4 pounds (0.5-1.8 kilograms) per month. An overly ambitious goal is likely to lead to failure and making the child discouraged.
A dietary prescription from the physician that specifies the total number of calories per day and recommended percentages of calories from fat, protein, and carbohydrates.
Increasing the child's level of physical activity to twenty to thirty minutes per day in addition to school sports or other physical education activities.
Nutrition education. This part of treatment usually involves asking the child to keep a food diary and monitor his or her every day food intake as well as learning about what makes a healthful diet and how the body uses food.
Family involvement. This may involve nutrition counseling for the parents as well as advising them about substituting family outings focused on physical activity instead of television viewing. A number of studies have shown that weight management programs involving the whole family are more successful than those aimed only at the overweight child.

Prognosis

The likelihood that an obese child will grow into an obese adult depends on 3 major factors: the age at which the child became obese; the severity of the obesity; and also the presence of obesity in a minimum of one parent. Overweight in a child under three years of age does not mean that the child will necessarily be obese in adult life unless at least one parent is also obese. After age 3, however, the likelihood that obesity will persist into adulthood increases with the age of the child and is higher in kids of any age who are severely obese.

After an obese child reaches six years of age, the probability that obesity will persist into adult life is greater than 50 percent; moreover, 70 to 80 percent of obese adolescents will remain obese as adults. The presence of obesity in at least one parent increases the risk of obesity in adult life for children at every age. Obese kids have a poor prognosis for good health in adult life. They are at increased risk for a number of serious long-term health problems, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), osteoarthritis, heart attack, stroke, and damage to the eyes, heart, and kidneys.

Prevention

Prevention of childhood obesity is increasingly important. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) makes the following recommendations for parents:

If possible, breast-feed kids rather than bottle feeding them.
Respect a child's appetite; don't insist that the child finish every feeding or meal.
Limit the high-calorie and sugary foods kept in the home.
Provide a nutritious diet with ample fiber from fruits and vegetables, with no more than 30 percent of calories derived from fat.
Don't use food as a reward or bribe a child to finish a meal by offering sweets.
Limit the child's television viewing or video games to no more than two hours per day.
Encourage the child to participate in sports along with other activities involving physical exercise (nature walks, dancing classes, hiking, etc.)
Plan family activities around outdoor walks, bicycling trips, etc.

The Future

The CDC expects the percentages of obesity in kids and teenagers to continue to rise over the next few decades, as it is unlikely that there will probably be large-scale changes in people's eating habits and food options. In addition, it's unlikely that the next few years will see any main breakthroughs in the treatment of obesity in adults.

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