Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity

One of the most serious challenges in the healthcare sector in the 21^st century is that of childhood obesity. Research has established that childhood obesity has attained epidemic levels not only among the developed countries but also in the developing ones. As a global problem, obesity is steadily affecting a significant number of low and middle-income earners across the world particularly in the urban settings. The World Health Organization has established shocking statistics by articulating that in the year 2016, it was found that the number of overweight children under the age of five was over 41 million. Interestingly, more than half of the overweight children who are under 5 years are living in India and a quarter in Africa.

In fact, obese and overweight children are likely to remain obese even in their adulthood and they are prospective to develop other communicable diseases such as cardiovascular and diabetes at a younger age. Nevertheless, the mechanism for developing obesity has not been fully understood and scientist argues that it is a disorder that has multiple causes. For instance, cultural environment, lifestyle preferences, and environmental factors play a central role in the increasing prevalence of obesity across the world.

Generally, some of the available evidence suggests that obesity and overweight are caused by high intake levels of fat and caloric. In correspondence to this, there is a wide array of evidence also supporting that excessive intake of sugar through soft drinks, increased portion size and reduced physical activities play a central role in the increasing levels of obesity in the world. Child obesity has profound effects on the children physical health, their self-esteem, as well as their emotional and social well-being. Addition, obesity has a direct correlation not only with the poor quality of life that a child experience but also with their academic performance.

Besides, other co-morbid conditions such as renal disorder, pulmonary, hepatic, neurological, orthopedic, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders are linked to childhood obesity. However, Obese, Overweight and other related diseases are highly preventable; this implies that obesity prevention among the children calls for a high priority. Some of the general recommendation includes; high consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduce energy intake from saturated and unsaturated fats, reduce sugar intake, and the child should be physically active.