Question

Obesity in school-age children has increased substantially and affects nearly 20% of children. This is a serious condition that can have immediate negative effects that can follow a child through their entire life. Describe 6 environmental factors or other choices that increase the risk of obesity, 7 negative health effects associated with obesity, and 8 ways to prevent childhood obesity.

Environmental Factors/Choices that Lead to Obesity	Negative Health Effects of Obesity	Prevention of Obesity
a)	a)	a)
b)	b)	b)
c)	c)	c)
d)	d)	d)
e)	e)	e)
f)	f)	f)
	g)	g)
		h)

Answer 1

Ans.

Risk factors of obesity -

1). Family inheritence and genetic influence -

• It is believed that obesity runs in family.
• The amount of fat stored in the body and it's distribution may be determined by the genes inherited from parents.
• Efficient conversion of food into energy as well regulation of apetite and burning of calories during exercise may also be influenced by the genes.

2). Unhealthy diet -

• High caloric diets with oversized portions are great contributors to obesity.
• Diets lacking fruits and vegetables and comprising of fast food contribute greatly to the weight increase.
• High calory beverages such as sugared soft drinks and ice-creams are a major risk factor for obesity.

3). Inactivity -

• Inactive lifestyle leads to excess intake of calories without burning them out.
• An example of sedantry lifestyle is looking at telivision screen and playing games on mobile and computer.
• The more the time children spends in front of a screen, the more risk of them suffering from obesity are.
• A lack of physical activities or exercise is another example of sedantry lifestyle, increasing the risk of obesity.

4). Several diseases and drugs -

• Obesity in several people can be linked with an illness such as Cushing syndrome.
• Arthiritis is another medical condition causing decreased physical activity and thereby increasing the chances of obesity in patients.
• Several medications such as anti-depressants, anti-epileptics and diabetes medications, may affect the metabolic processes in the body and may contribute to weight gain.

5). Parental feeding practices -

• Parental feeding practices and dynamics of parent feeding behaviour to child may cause a positive energy regulation resulting in overweight children.
• Infants which are bottle feeded are more likely to grow in obese adults than those who are breast feeded.
• Children whose eating behavior are restricted by parents are more prone to increased energy intake and to suffer from obesity.

6). Sex -

• It is also an important determinant of risk of obesity and increased weight.
• Black or Hispanic women are more likely to suffer from obesity then black or Hispanic men in U.S.A.
• Way the fat is stored in body is also affected by the sex for eg. less unhealthy fat is stored in the abdomen of women compared to men.

Negative health effects associated with obesity -

1). Type 2 diabetes -

• It is a disease involving sugar level in blood higher then the normal.
• Major portion of people having diabetes are obese or overweight.
• Association of obesity with diabetes is not yet clear however it is speculated that there may be changes in cells which makes them resistant to insulin hormone.
• In the condition of insulin resistance, cells cannot take up the blood sugar to generate energy leding to high blood level of sugars.

2). High blood pressure -

• Obesity is associated with high blood pressure in more than one ways.
• Increased blood pressure in a larger body size my results from increased effort of the heart to pump the blood all over the body.
• Kidneys may also get damaged due to excess fat level, thereby elevating the blood pressure.

3). Heart Disease -

• People with obesity also suffer from health problems involving heart diseases.
• Example of these diseases are high cholesterol, high blood sugar and high blood pressure.

4). Cancer -

• Many studies have associated link of overweight and obesity with some cancer types.
• The reason for this association is not clear completely.
• Some hormones may be released by the fat cells increasing the risk of cancer.

5). Sleep apnea -

• Sleep apnea is one of the most important problem associated with obesity.
• There may be excess storage of fat around the neck of an obese person causing smaller airways.
• This smaller airways may cause difficulty in breating or loud breathing and may even stop breathing mometarily.
• Also, fats deposited in the neck may release certain inflammatory factors, thus causing inflammation.

6). Osteoarthiritis -

• Obesity is an important risk factor of osteoarthiritis which may result in joints injury.
• Extra force put on joints and cartilage due to increase weight may result in tearing of joints and ligaments.
• There may also be inflammation in joints due to release of inflammatory mediators from fat depot at joints.

7). Stroke -

• Caused by increase in blood pressure due to increased weight.

Ways to prevent childhood obesity -

1). Breast feeding -

• Whenever possible, breastfeed infants.
• Studies have found reduced risk of childhood obesity in association with breast-feeding.

2). Feeding children appropriate portion sizes -

• Try to feed children appropriately as over-portion feeds may present a risk of obesity.
• Encourage children to learn about various portion sizes.

3). Building relationship with healthy foods at an early stage of age -

• Encourage children to eat different fruits and vegetables.
• Growing older, they may incorporate such healthy eating style in their eating habbit.

4). Encouraging healthy and slow eating -

• Eating when there is no hunger may cause over eating.
• This unnecessary fuel may get stored as fat depot in body and result in obesity.
• Eating slowly improves the digestion of food.

5). Avoiding unhealthy foods -

• Avoidance of buying unheathy food may help in preventiopn of unnecessary eating habbits in children.

6). Physical activity -

• Atleast 60 minutes of daily exercise may reduce the risk of obesity in children.

7). Limiting the screen time -

• The less time a child spends in front of screen, the more physical activity and sleep he/she may get.
• So, it is important to limit the screen time of children.

8). Sleep -

• Make sure that every child is getting enough sleep.
• Children with less sleep are more likely to suffer from the problem of obesity.