The number of overweight and obese children is increasing in many countries around the world. Different studies (Cuenca 98, 4 provinces, EnKid, Cuenca 2004) have shown that more than 25% of Spanish children are overweight and that 5% are obese. On a European level, Spain has the second highest level of childhood obesity in the EU.
This increasing trend in childhood obesity has been associated with economic, social, demographic and lifestyle changes.
Traditional diets have been replaced by others with a higher calorie content and lower consumption of complex carbohydrates and fibre.
These dietary changes are combined with a more sedentary lifestyle and a decrease of physical activity due to new technology, passive leisure time and better access to transport.
Variation of the variables related to being obese and overweight.
To analyse the possible reasons for this increase in the frequency of overweight children it would be useful to take a look at this graphic produced from the data extracted from the Cuenca study. It can be seen that between 1992 and 2004, although the levels of blood lipids improved, there was a slow increase in the body mass index (BMI).
This phenomenon seems to indicate that the increase in the number of overweight children is due more to changes in their sedentary lifestyles than to dietary changes.
Obesity at a young age is associated with orthopaedic problems produced by an overload of the locomotory apparatus, metabolic changes, sleep disorders, exertional dyspnoea or breathing difficulties during physical exercise, skin problems, hypertension, etc.
No less important is the effect on the psychological development and social adaptation of overweight/obese children. It has been shown that these children have a poor self-image and express feelings of inferiority and rejection. Discrimination by their fellow children triggers antisocial attitudes that lead them to become isolated and depressed.
When talking about childhood obesity we are also talking about future obesity in later life. Obesity during childhood tends to be carried over into adulthood, and this significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, osteoarthritis and even certain types of cancer (particularly of the breast and colon).
Various different strategies have been proposed to combat this trend, including increasing the physical activity of schoolchildren, modifying their dietary habits, or a combination of both.
However, a recent Cochrane review (2005) highlighted the lack of long-term obesity-prevention studies in schoolchildren and concluded that the majority of strategies undertaken had not managed to reduce the BMI.
@2008. Social and Health Care Research Center, University of Castilla-La Mancha