OBESITY IN CHILDREN
Obesity has now become a common word heard in our day to day lives all over the world; it is the common problem faced by almost all people of all ages because of their food habits. The most common cause for obesity is over eating or having junk food available outside, which is prepared using lots of fat products. Obesity means excess amount of body fat measure in terms of BMI and obesity in children can lead to many problems throughout their life if it is
not controlled. It may lead to serious problems like heart strokes, diabetes and other illness’s. Obesity in infants can be prevented by breast feeding and by delaying introduction of solid foods. In grown up children it can be prevented by giving them low fat products and make them participate in curricular activities and in young people it can be prevented by following proper diet and exercises.
There are many causes for obesity, consumption of more number of calories than the daily requirement will result in obesity, and various factors like genetic factor, dietary habits, socioeconomic status, and physical inactivity. Also, in some cases hormonal imbalance can also cause obesity. Health care providers define obesity as weighing 20% or more than healthy range, over weight of the child can be known, with the help of weight to height tables. These
tables explain how much a child should weigh for his height. Body fat percentage and BMI methods can be used to measure obesity, fat percentage of above 25% in boys and above 35% in girls can be considered as obese. BMI can be defined as weight in kilograms by height in meters square.
Parents have to take positive action to control the obesity in their children, weight loss is not the first step which has to be taken but controlling their child’s weight gain has to be considered a priority. Healthier food habits has to be cultivated in children. It will also help non obese people, to avoid getting obese in the future. A proper plan has to be maintained to stop obesity in children, there is no particular medical treatment to reduce obesity, only maintaining a good diet and making your child participate in lots of physical activities can reduce the fat in the body. yoga for kids also plays a role in controlling the obesity in children. It is recommended that at least 60 minutes daily, a child should take part in physical activities. Restrict your child to watching television, no more than one hour a day as this does not burn any calories. Rather, it leads children to snack, encourage your child to participate in school activities as often as he can, allow him to play, dance, walk, run every day. All this will help in burning excess calories, plan your child’s diet properly avoid giving snacks all the time. Explain to your child about what food choices he has to eat everyday. Do not over restrict your child about food, allow them occasionally to have a treat and choose what ever food they wish to eat, this will help them not to get into a depressed mood. Always remember to include plenty of fruits and vegetables - (5 a day is the recommended amount) and low calorie food in your child diet. There are also some options available for treatment of obesity in children which include behavioural and dietary modifications, pharmacotherapy, and Weight-loss supplements .
