 |
Obesity has become a pandemic, with more than a billion people affected worldwide. Over the past 30 years, the frequency of overweight children, defined as those having a body mass index (BMI) greater than the 85th percentile for age and sex, has tripled. Data from the International Obesity Task Force indicate that 22 million of the world’s children under 5 years of age are overweight or obese. Obesity has even replaced malnutrition as the major nutritional problem in some parts of Africa, with overweight/obesity being as much as four times more common than malnutrition.
The first years of life are a critical period for the development of food and flavour preferences, the ability to self-control food intake, the transmission of cultural and familial beliefs about food and eating, and the susceptibility to overweight and obesity later in life. Overweight in infancy tends to increase the risk for subsequent overweight in childhood and this risk appears to increase with age. Obesity by age 4 or 5 is a concern because it tends to persist.
As the incidence of childhood obesity has increased, more consequences of obesity in children have been identified, including obstructive sleep apnea (episodes of pauses in breathing during sleep due to obstruction of the airways), orthopaedic problems, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Psychological problems – for example, depression and reduced quality of life – are also serious correlates of obesity. Bias, prejudice, and discrimination are part of everyday life for overweight children. Moreover, the consequences of bias, such as isolation or social withdrawal, could contribute to the exacerbation of obesity through psychological vulnerabilities that increase the likelihood of over-eating and sedentary activity.
|
|