Childhood Obesity - separating facts from fiction
Weight control and dietary issues have become the modern disorder of the western world. Every day we are faced with images on our TV screens and in our streets of overweight and obese people and sadly, this applies as much to children as to adults, just at a time when children should be growing to a pinnacle of physical and mental health.
Often parents are blamed yet this is a sometimes glib and unmerited answer when those parents may themselves be doing everything they can to fight a losing battle against peer pressure, high budget advertising, fast food outlets and today’s “virtual” lifestyle. The Search facility on this website gives parents the opportunity to find a way forward for their families using qualified, professional help.
Read on for further information about childhood obesity, to check you and your childs weight on our Healthy Weight BMI Calculator or, select our Home/Search button to find your nearest practitioner now.
The statistics
Obesity worldwide is rapidly increasing, and was recently described by the World Health Organisation as a ‘global epidemic’, with more than 300 million obese people recorded in the year 2000. In England around 24 million people are now classed as obese and the figures, which have tripled since the 80s, are still rising.
These figures become more relevant as we discover that, for children in the UK aged between 2-15, as surveyed in the National Child Measurement Programme commissioned by the Department of Health, almost one-third (nearly 3 million) are overweight and approximately 1.5 million of these children are actually obese. More detailed figures from primary schools show that the problem accelerates as they get older, pushing many more through into the obese category.
What is the National Child Measurement Programme?
As part of the Government-commissioned ‘National Child Measurement Programme’ children are weighed and measured at school. Two age groups have been included in the programme: Reception children and Year 6 children. The information is used by your local PCTs and the NHS to plan and provide better health services for children.
What will happen?
If you have a child in Reception Year (ages four and five) or Year 6 (ages ten and eleven) you will receive a letter with more information from your local NHS provider, before your child is measured. On the day, trained NHS staff will weigh and measure your child in their clothes at school. Care is taken to ensure that the measurements are done sensitively and in private, and your child’s results will not be shared with teachers or other children.
Why is it important that my child takes part?
Every child measured is contributing to the national picture about how children are growing. The more children who participate, the clearer that picture will be. The information collected helps your local NHS provider to plan and provide better health services for the children in your area.
What happens to the results?
Your child’s measurement results will be held securely by your local NHS provider, along with other details, such as date of birth and school. Information on all the children’s measurements will be gathered together and sent to the NHS Information Centre. This does not include details that could identify your child, such as name or date of birth. The NHS Information Centre will use this anonymous information to identify trends in children’s heights and weights across England. The results will then be used to shape how services are delivered to help people improve their own and their children’s health. You can see the official results by visiting the NHS Information Centre website.
How do I find out my child’s results?
In some areas parents will automatically be sent their child’s results in the post. In other areas parents will need to contact their local NHS provider to find out their child’s measurements. The letter that you receive from your local NHS provider before the measurements take place will explain how your child’s results will be made available to you.
National Child Measurement Programme information kindly provided to us by the NHS.
Why does being overweight matter?
Being overweight and, particularly, being obese causes many health problems, both physical and psychological.
A short list of physical illnesses associated with weight gain includes: type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, coronary heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), osteoarthritis, some cancers, mechanical problems such as back pain and foot strain, and exacerbation of asthma. The problem may also be a symptom of pre-existing psychological issues and psychological effects include poor self-esteem, being perceived as unattractive, bullying, depression, disordered eating and bulimia.
Some of these illnesses become apparent in childhood while others develop in adulthood.
Why does obesity occur?
The body takes in energy through food and uses energy through physical activity. So if there is an imbalance, too much energy in and not enough out for a person’s particular metabolism, the body stores the excess as fat. Too much fat and we call someone overweight or, at an extreme, obese.
The solution can lie in a reduction or rebalancing of food intake or a change in lifestyle to be more active or a combination of both.
Is my child obese?
The physical signs are obvious; a child who looks overly large for its height can loosely be called overweight; however, there are usually other factors to assess before confirming that a child is fundamentally overweight. A simple method to discover if a child is ‘technically’ overweight is to use the Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator. Other telling signs of an overweight child are low self-esteem, poor confidence and a lack of energy, enthusiasm and concentration.