Abstract
World Health Organization Calls for Tighter Marketing of Foods to Children
Indian Medical Society To Study Childhood Obesity
The Ahmedabad Medical Association in India in collaboration with Cardio Vascular Health and Fitness will conduct a study, collecting the height and weight of 10,000 school children and the lifestyle choices they make while recording the incidence of overweight and obesity. Half of the children studied will attend English schools in upper-middle-class areas. Another 2500 will come from private schools in middle-class neighborhoods and 2500 from private schools in lower-middle-class communities.
Brazilian Program Effective in Improving Obese Children's Lives
An intervention program combining physical exercise and recreational activities with nutritional counseling was found to improve the health and quality of life of obese children in Brazil. Researchers from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina enrolled 44 children 8–11 years, with a BMI of more than the 97th percentile for age and gender, in a controlled clinical trial. Half of the children served as controls. Of the children who completed the program, the intervention group showed a significant reduction in BMI and improvements in the physical, emotional, social, and psychosocial domains of quality of life. The controls did not, according to the article, “Interdisciplinary intervention in obese children and impact on health and quality of life,” in the Jornal de Pediatria.
Study Finds Limited Evidence of Link between Sweet Drinks and BMI
An international team, led by a researcher from Frederiksberg, Denmark, found limited evidence that consuming sweet drinks was associated with gender-standardized BMI (BMIz). The team collected height, weight, and sugary drink intake data on 1465 Australian children and teens and reexamined the children 2 years later. At the second time period, they found no association between drinking sweet beverages and BMIz. However, children from higher socioeconomic homes who reported an increase in sweet drink consumption had a higher BMIz at the follow-up appointment. The investigators concluded in Pediatric Obesity that “the association is complex and may be confounded by both dietary and activity behaviours.”
Lottery Funds To Support Scottish Children's Healthy-Weight Program
Scotland's Big Lottery Fund announced it will provide £1.7 million ($2.65 million USD) in funding to MyTime Active's Healthy Powerful Communities project. Parents and children will attend sessions about nutrition, portion control, and physical activity. Approximately 32% of Scottish children are overweight. The program has been tested in East Ayrshire, Tower Hamlets, and Wales and will now be offered to children in 11 Local Authority areas within Scotland. Big Lottery Fund Scotland Committee Chair Maureen McGinn said, “We know this approach works because it involves the whole family and focuses on becoming healthier and having fun, rather than missing out.”
European Study Advocates Mediterranean Diet
A study of more than 16,000 children, 2–9 years of age, in eight European countries by researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden found an inverse association between high consumption of a Mediterranean-like diet and being overweight or obese. They determined intake with a parental questionnaire featuring 43 food items and calculated adherence to the diet using a food frequency-based Mediterranean Diet Score. Children in Sweden followed the Mediterranean diet more closely, and those in Cyprus were least likely to have consumed such foods frequently. The investigators conclude in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases that a Mediterranean diet “should therefore be advocated as part of EU obesity prevention strategies.”
Number of Overweight Children Increases in Thailand
The number of preschool children in Thailand who are overweight has been increasing by 36%, something the Ministry of Public Health attributes to a change in diet, with more consumption of fatty, sugary, and unhealthy food products and a lack of exercise. A survey of middle school students in Bangkok found that 18% of the youngsters have a BMI greater than 25. The health ministry plans to release an animated guideline about how to stay healthy and offer parents tools and information about nutrition and physical activity through a special website. The goal is to improve healthy eating and increase the amount of daily physical activity in which children participate.
UK Children's Centers Credited with Reducing Obesity
Healthy living sessions offered by the Harrow (UK) Borough Children's Centres are attributed by the borough council with lowering the rates of childhood obesity in Harrow. The programs began in 2008, involve parents, and teach about nutrition, how to prepare healthy snacks and meals, and the need for physical activity. A volunteer nutritionist works with the centers to provide the latest information. Parents are urged to model healthy behaviors. Nutrition drop-in sessions address topics such as fussy eating or encouraging sufficient fruit consumption. For 2011–2012, approximately 9% of children in Harrow were obese, compared with a national average of 10%.
Weight Issues Associated with Adverse Treatment of Children
The Be Active, Eat Right study, conducted by a team from Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands, found that being overweight, obese, or underweight at the age of 5 years was associated with more adverse treatment, according to parent reports. The research sample included 2372 children, with 6.2% overweight, 1.6% obese, and 15% underweight. The parents of children with a high stable BMI indicated their children were at greater odds for visiting the doctor and feeling insecure. The investigators conclude in PLOS ONE that healthcare providers should be aware of this and counsel parents and children.
UAE Researchers Call for National Strategy To Combat Childhood Obesity
Reporting on the findings of the Abu Dhabi Childhood Obesity Study, researchers from the Zayed Military Hospital and the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at UAE University suggested a national strategy is needed to tackle the rising problem of childhood obesity. The team warned parents about the need to habituate children to physical activities and modify food habits. The study of more than 1400 randomly selected school children and their parents in three regions of the country found that 34% of the children were overweight or obese, 14.2% and 19.8%, respectively. Prevalence varied by age group, with 40.1% of the 11- to 15-year-olds overweight or obese, as were 39% of the 16- to 19-year-olds and 22.8% of the 6- to 10-year-olds.
Mexico Launches Campaign Against Childhood Obesity
The Mexican Alliance for Nutritional Health has organized a campaign around reversing childhood obesity rates. More than 26% of the country's children were obese in 2006, the most recent data available, up from 18.4% in 1999. Thirty percent of the country's teens are overweight or obese. The alliance, through social media, is urging the government to regulate junk food advertising directed at children.
School-Based Program Found Beneficial in South Korea
The HEROES Initiative, a multi-component, school-based program designed to prevent childhood obesity, was found effective in increasing elementary and middle-school children's physical activity levels, according to an article in Preventive Medicine. More than 1000 children at eight schools participated in the program. Thirty-nine percent dropped out by 18 months. The international team of researchers led by Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, saw a significant increase in the youngsters vigorous-intensity exercise, but not in moderate-intensity physical activity. They also found an association between screen time and fruit and vegetable intake and the increases in physical activity.
New Zealand Program Helping Children Lose Weight
The Whanau Pakari multidisciplinary intervention program has helped more than 200 children, ages 5–16 years, from Taranaki, New Zealand, learn about nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices. The Sport Taranaki and the Taranaki District Health Board developed the home-based, 1-year program for families in Taranaki, particularly Maori children, who are over-represented in obesity numbers. Approximately 20% of the region's children, ages 5–14 years, are overweight. Half of the participating children have come from Maori families. Physicians have referred most of the Whanau Pakari participants. The program has involved parents and has focused on maintaining meal portion control, increasing fruit intake, and reducing high-fat foods and sugar. Funding has been provided by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Taranaki Medical Foundation, and the Sunshine Trust. If outcomes from a clinical trial now under way prove the intervention successful, the health board anticipates similar programs could spread throughout the country.
Hong Kong Medical Societies Find Lack of Knowledge about Childhood Obesity
A survey conducted by physicians from the Federation of Medical Societies of Hong Kong found that one third of respondents did not think childhood obesity was a problem in Hong Kong. Yet, Department of Health reports indicate an increase in the obesity rate among primary school children to 21% in 2012, up from 16% in 1998. The survey also found that respondents did not know that a lack of sleep, fewer than 12 hours, can contribute to childhood obesity or that breastfeeding can reduce the risk. Also, one third of those surveyed did not know that obesity can lead to emotional illness or low self-esteem.
Portuguese Find Watching TV Increases Risk of Childhood Obesity
A study of 17.2 million children, ages 3–11 years, by researchers at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, investigating eating habits, as well as time watching television (TV) or using the computer or electronic games, found that watching TV had the greatest effect on excess weight and increased blood pressure. The investigators attributed that to food advertising on TV and that TV is more passive than computers or electronic games. During the week, 28% of boys and 26% of girls watched 2 or more hours of TV, but that increased to 75% of the boys and 74% of the girls on the weekend. The investigators encourage parents to limit their children's TV time.
Canada Pledges $13 million for Childhood Anti-Obesity Programs
The Canadian government has agreed to spend nearly $13 million through the Public Health Agency of Canada's Innovation Strategy for programs to help children and youth achieve healthier lifestyles. The programs will address underlying environmental, social, demographic, and economic factors that can affect weight among children and teens. The nonprofit Bridge Youth and Family Services Society in Kelowna, British Columbia, will lead the project in that province. The program will involve parents and children shopping and cooking together in more healthy ways, becoming more active, and avoiding marketing ads.
Physical Education Could Become Core Subject in Wales
To tackle the “obesity time-bomb,” a report on Physical Activity in Schools prepared by a Welsh government review group, the Schools and Physical Activity Task and Finish Group, led by Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, recommends that physical education become a core subject, such as English, math, and science, in the country's schools. If that were to occur, the report indicates, Wales would be the first nation to do so. Elevating physical education (PE) to a core subject would result in teachers becoming competent to deliver the subject during their initial training. Specialist teachers would work with schools to ensure high-quality performance, rigorous reviews of standards and provision of PE, and measures of progress. The review group estimates the cost to change PE to a core subject would be approximately £5 million ($7.78 million USD) per year. Approximately 36% of children younger than 16 years in Wales are overweight or obese.
Reducing Snack Portions Protects Against Weight Gain, Philippine Study Shows
A team of researchers from the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines investigated the association between childhood obesity and snacking and found that reducing the amount of food eaten during the snack helped protect children from becoming overweight. Investigators enrolled 396 students in grades 4–6. Children found to be obese consumed more servings of sweetened drinks and low-quality snacks. Girls ate more nighttime snacks and ate a total of more snack servings. The researchers recommended in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health that nighttime snacking and feeding of bad-quality foods should be kept to a minimum.
UK Turns to Nonjudgmental Obesity Warning Letters
The UK's National Health Service is asking officials with the National Child Measurement Programme to tone down the language used when notifying parents that their child is overweight or obese. The new verbiage requires nonjudgmental and positive phrasing. Parents had responded with outrage at the former letters that indicated their child fell into a “clinically obese” range or that it may be difficult to tell if a child is overweight. The new letters also will not make reference to heart disease and cancer risks associated with obesity.