Question

reflect on child obesity

how lack of knowledge and skill, attitudes towards food, socioeconomic environment , and culture can affect eating behavior ?

what responsibilities so key public health stakeholders have?

what nutritional and physical activity plans would you recommend ?

as a health educator, what type of prevention activities and detection of chronic diease you are recommending

Answer 1

child obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges in this century. there were almost 41 million obese children under five years of age in the year 2016. it is affecting the urban settings even in the low and middle income countries. hence its prevention needs high priority. basic metabolic rate, BMI provides the basic guideline of measuring weight according to height. this value only categorizes someone into obese and normal. A child’s weight status is determined by age- and sex-specific percentile for BMI rather than the BMI categories used for adults. This is because children’s body composition varies according to age and sex.

Eating behavior affected by-

knowledge & skill- eating high calorie foods, such as fast food, machine snacks, bakery products causes weight gain. this fact is less known in still many parts of the world. more hours spent on playing video games, watching television and sedentary behavior is not good for their health. low knowledge about nutrition in parents or caregivers contributes to obesity.

attitude towards food- not taking good healthy diet, missing meals, in appropriate quantity, time of meals are the few factors that influences eating behavior. preferring more of frozen, canned already cooked easy to serve and carry food stuffs are choice of food for many developed zones of society.

socio-economic environment- countries to countries, states to states and even family to family variation can be easily seen in the preferences of food. poor, slum dwellers, under privileged and low middle class children are often wasted, stunted, malnutrition to normal whereas the thick and high societies have more prevalence of obese children. few places and communities in the world don't have proper or limited access to supermarkets. therefore they are bound to eat frozen meals, crackers, cookies.

culture & behavior- often children from high affluent societies tend to be obese as their intake of fast food, high calorie sugary stuffs is more in comparison to a middle class family child. often the parents have busiest schedule to look after their children. so really really don't have a check on it. now, it has become a habit of kids not to accept the healthy home food but to go such fast n canned food. personal, parental and family stress and genetic traits often leads to obesity in children.

nutritional & physical plan- in diet plans, provision of plenty of fruits vegetables and whole grains is necessary. choosing lean meats, poultry fish, lentils beans, low fat or non fat milk served in reasonably sized portions is important. drinking lots of water should be encouraged.

exercise is an integral part of daily life. children who don't do physical activities or don't go for outdoor activities are prone to obesity. brisk walking, playing tag, jumping rope, playing soccer,swimming, dancing to strengthen bones,decreasing blood pressure help in managing weight.

responsibilities of public health stakeholders-  they can ask policy Actions to formulate guidelines for policies to restrict marketing for foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children. community information and awareness, healthy food availability in schools and canteens, active lifestyle, sports and recreation infrastructures and prevention & early intervention services.

daily allowance of pocket money to children to buy lunch instead of cooked home food , easy availability of domestic help to take care of household chores, commuting to school by bus or car instead of walking or bicycling are few areas of family members to look after. promoting more intake of fruits and vegetables by parents to be done.

WHO is calling interested Member States and other parties to provide available evidence on the impact of marketing for foods and non-alcoholic beverages on children’s eating behaviors, body weight and health, including grey literature or studies. diabetes Mellitus, high blood pressure, sleep disorders, metabolic syndrome, high cholesterol, fatty liver asthma are the disease to which a obese child is readily exposed to. hence this should be looked upon seriously.