Childhood Obesity Doesn’t Look Good But Mom Recommends.

It cannot be denied that childhood obesity is on the rise. Chew on the following statistics –

Somewhere between 5.74 % and 8.82 % of schoolchildren in Indian are obese.
In urban south India, 21.4 % boys and 18.5 % girls aged 13-18 are either over-weight or obese. Worldwide , in the year 2000, the International obesity task force(IOTF) , declared about 10% of children aged 5-17 (about 155 million), were overweight , out of which 2 to 3% (30-45 million) , were obese.

Among the reasons for childhood obesity were ubiquitous processed foods, fast foods, and foods that don’t unfortunately love your child back as much as your child loves them. Add that to the fact outdoor activities have been replaced by digital ones, and you have a scenario where children are eating more calories than they can expend. But while, we’ll get into ways of getting your child have better nutrition in subsequent articles.

Chubby baby isn’t always a healthy one- there’s this notion that a chubby baby is a healthy one. But a baby only needs so much nutrition for growth and development, and the more of fat a child stores, the greater the tendency to store fat as the child gets older.

An overweight child is prone to being an overweight adult-

Overweight children are more likely to grow up to be overweight adults. Comprehensive studies over the years have made clear the linkage between obesity in children and corresponding obesity in adults. Likewise, research has also shown the link between overweight children and sick adults.

Children can grow into their height- not all of it bad news, though. Overweight children – especially overweight younger children- can grow into their height. Which means that if a child seems to be tipping the scales at a relatively young age, the chances are that as the child gets taller the weight gained will simply redistribute itself and even things out? This may not hold true for children who have already reached their full height, or close to it.

Overweight children need both food and love, and a healthy dose of understanding. With good nutrition, exercise and a lot of support they can learn how to develop healthy eating habits and live happy, healthy lives.