CHILD OBESITY

 An early-life focus is important because the health and social impact of excess weight and obesity in childhood persists into later stages of life, negatively affecting health, educational attainment and general life quality.More children are now growing up in societies that facilitate weight gain and obesity by creating environments where a healthy choice is not the cheapest or the easiest option.

The main reasons for child obesity include maternal factors, prior to and during pregnancy. Diet, smoking, being overweight or obese when becoming pregnant, gaining excess weight during pregnancy and developing gestational diabetes can all increase the risk of the child being overweight. A father being overweight or obese at conception is also a risk for the child’s future weight.

In the early months and years of a child’s life, many factors pose a risk to becoming overweight. These include the child not being breast fed or being breastfed for too short a time.

A child’s risk of obesity is also strongly affected by the diet they learn to enjoy from the start of life, so early food exposures are important. For instance, weaning children off milk and onto sweetened drinks rather than water, or introducing sweet or high-fat biscuits as snacks rather than fruits or vegetables will promote preferences for sugar and fat that can be difficult to change.

The lack of physical activity and sleep, and more screen time, are also flagged as important influences in children’s obesity risk.

So there is a need for promotion of healthy eating, increased physical activity and reduced time being sedentary needs to be embedded across society – from individuals and their families to organisations and communities.

It is also necessary that the mother and child’s diet is improved and the child’s television time is reduced along with any other gadget use. Also the parents have to think twice on introducing sugary drinks to their child and physical activity should be highlighted in their daily plan with the child.

Hence an early focus and all proper involvement with the child can makes this possible for every parent to control the obesity of the child .