Childhood Obesity and the Environment-Determinant factors

Remove all the obesity incentives within the environment for children. Research findings associate childhood obesity to the environment.

We are living in a very unpredictable world when it comes to physical health of the entire humanity. Every parent wish is to raise a healthy family and most importantly the good health of the children. The health complications among children is a serious concern to parents and this is going to form the basis of our discussion in this article focusing on obesity among children and the effects of their environment as a determinant factor.

New evidence is confirming that the environment children live in has a greater impact than factors such as genetics, insufficient physical activity or other elements in efforts to control child obesity. Three new studies, published in the April 8 Pediatrics, land on the import of the ‘nurture’ side of the equation and focus on specific circumstances in children’s or teen’s lives that potentially contribute to unhealthy bulk.

Studies revealed that in the past three decades child and adolescent obesity has more than tripled in the U.S and the world at large, estimates from 2010 classify that more than a third of children and teens as overweight or obese. Obesity puts these children at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, and bone or joint problems. The variables responsible are thought to range from too little or no exercise to too many soft drinks. Now it seems that blaming Pepsi or too little PE might neglect the bigger picture.

Experts express fears that we are raising our children in a world that is vastly different than it was several decades ago this is because Childhood obesity is a disease of the environment. It’s a natural consequence of normal children with normal genes being raised in unhealthy, abnormal environments. The environmental factors in these studies range from the seemingly minor, such as kids’ plate sizes, to bigger challenges, such as school schedules that may keep teens from getting sufficient sleep. But they are part of an even longer list: the ubiquity of fast food, changes in technology, fewer home-cooked meals, more food advertising, an explosion of low-cost processed foods and increasing sugary drink serving sizes as well as easy access to unhealthy snacks in vending machines, at sports games and in nearly every setting children inhabit—these are just a handful of environmental factors research has linked to increasing obesity, and researchers are starting to pick apart which among them play bigger or lesser roles in making children obese.

Childhood Obesity and the Environment-Size matters in “obesogenic environments”
In one of the three new studies dishware size made a big difference. Researchers studied 42 second-graders in which the children alternately used child-size 18.4-centimeter (7.25-inch) diameter plates with 237-milliliter (8-ounce) bowls or adult-size 26-centimeter (10.25-inch) diameter plates with 473-milliliter (16-ounce) bowls. Doubling the size of the dishware, the researchers found, increased the amount of food kids served themselves in a buffet-style lunch line by an average of 90 calories. They ate about 43 percent of those extra calories, on average.

Although children can typically adjust their energy intake by regulating their food, their surroundings and options may change that equation for kids in the same way that it does in adults. This notion that children are immune to the environment is somewhat misguided, to promote self-regulation, you have to constrain the environment in a way that makes the healthy choice the easy choice.

Childhood Obesity and the Environment-Link between obesity and screen time
Overconsumption might be a key component in the link between obesity and screen time, too, according to another of the new studies. Although past research already had linked increased TV time to widening waistlines, this study dug deeper. Ninety one children between ages 13 and 15 year olds filled out diaries for TV, video games and computer use during a one-week period. About four to seven times a day the teens were paged to record what they were paying the most attention to at that particular moment, followed by activities receiving their second- and third-most attention.

Kids live in a multitasking world and in trying to assess their technology use when they’re using different forms of technology at once. Three theories have been floated for the link between screen time and obesity: food advertising, unconscious eating and displacement—that is, the idea that the media use replaces physical activity. The findings lent more support to the first two variables and less to the third. They found video games and computer use had no impact on BMI (body mass index). Television did, but only if it was the main event. Background TV, for example, didn’t matter.

Childhood Obesity and the Environment-Less physical activity is not the problem
Screen-time study did find that kids engaged in more physical activity had lower BMIs, but that does not mean that more exercise is keeping those teens lighter. “What we’ve seen for so many years is research looking at physical activity as the preventative or the curative solution for childhood obesity, but the data on physical activity as a means to set children’s weight is abysmal. What the study confirmed is that screen time increases obesity consequent to calorie intake, not to a lack of physical activity. That’s a crucial message that people don’t understand obesity is not a disease of inactivity.

Childhood Obesity and the Environment-Modifying children’s environment

To help our children from being obese, we need to reorganize their environment to try as much as we can to eliminate elements that facilitate occurrences of obesity. These are some of the elements to be put aside:

Sugary drinks from vending machines
Snack food serving sizes
Removed deep fryers from school cafeterias and replaced whole milk options with 1 percent and skim
Ensure new healthy nutrition standards both in schools and daycare centers for the children.
Encourage corner stores around the schools to stock their shelves with healthier snacks.

Finally controlling the happenings in our environment may be an uphill task for you and me, yet we all need to keep our children safe from obesity. If for whatever reason this problem is already affecting you or your child directly or indirectly you can get help at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury. Hear all your worries will be sorted out humanely in the most natural and efficient way. Doctor Akoury and her team are professionals who care for you and will focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE. Giving this a try will be one of the most precious gift you can give to your children, friends and even yourself.