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Take Action Now
on Childhood Obesity
Ten percent of children, or at least 155 million youngsters worldwide,
are overweight or obese, a leading health expert said, citing
new evidence of the extent of the problem.
"We need urgent action. The time
for action is now," said Professor Ricardo Uauy, chair of public
health nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine.
Uauy, an editor of a new report
on childhood obesity, called for a global strategy to stem the
rising number of obese children everywhere.
"We are facing an epidemic in children,"
he told Reuters. "We thought obesity was a problem for adults
-- it is a global problem in children and it is going to get worse
before it gets better."
Although it is most severe in the
United States, where the prevalence of obese children aged five
to 17 is about 10 percent and more than 30 percent are overweight,
numbers are rising in Europe, the Middle East and in the Asia/Pacific
region, according to the report by the London-based International
Obesity Task Force (IOTF).
Ten to 20 percent of children in
northern Europe show a prevalence toward being overweight, while
further south in Europe the numbers increase to 20-35 percent.
What was once a health problem
for the industrialized world with its high calorie foods, labor-saving
devices and dwindling levels of physical activity has now spread
to developing countries.
In South Africa, about 25 percent
of girls from 13-19 are overweight or obese -- a number approaching
U.S. levels, according to the report.
"These figures are extremely high,
especially figures emerging from developing countries where we
thought malnutrition was a problem," Uauy added "Now we are seeing
that stunted children become obese as soon as they start getting
the regular diet and physical inactivity of other countries."
SOCIAL TRENDS
In the report, Uauy and his colleagues
identified social trends which have contributed to the problem
and called for the World Health Organization (WHO) to help developing
countries organize strategies to prevent childhood obesity.
It would include efforts to improve
maternal nutrition and to promote breast feeding, to encourage
schools to teach children how to eat better, to provide clear
nutrition information to consumers and safe play facilities in
local neighborhoods.
Changes in diet, a decrease in
physical activity and too much time spent in front of computer
or television screens have been blamed for the growing number
of overweight children.
Obesity increases a child's risk
of suffering type 2 diabetes and, later in life, of developing
heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer.
"A global strategy means keeping
children active at school and at play and making sure that foods
that are energy-dense be limited. We cannot have high-energy food
so that a child in 15 minutes will eat 80 percent of his calories
for the day," Uauy added.
"In some countries, over the past
decade, the figure has tripled. I think it is never too late but
it is time we start getting serious about doing something about
it."
Read
a PDF report on Child Obesity
"Public
Health Crisis, Prevention as a Cure"
PDF report from the American Academy of Pediatrics
"Prevention of Pediatric Overweight
and Obesity"
Related
articles on Child Obesity or Childhood
Obesity
Related
articles on Overweight Children
Reference
Source 89
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