In light of Seyi Law and Kemi Olunloyo spat on Tiwa, I personally tink every parent should be educated on Childhood Obesity. I am not passing any judgement here, I just think there should be a spotlight on Childhood obesity.

Happy reading.

Obesity is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health. Childhood obesity is a medical condition that affects children and teenagers. Everyone has a body shape that is just right for him or her changes but sometimes we can store excessive body fat.

A healthy weight trajectory is where height and weight change proportionally together as children develop. When children are off the healthy weight trajectory, their weight gain is disproportionate to their change in height, meaning the gain of body fat that can negatively impact his or her healthy development and health overall. If a child or adult stores too much fat they can be classified as overweight or obese. A sign of childhood obesity is a weight well above the average for a child’s height and age.

If left unchecked, research shows that these children are more likely to become obese adults and thus more likely to experience compromised health due to chronic disease, contributing to growing personal and health care costs.
Which children are at risk of becoming overweight or obese?

Most childhood unhealthy weights are caused by children eating too much and not exercising enough. A complex and interacting system of factors contributes to increasing rates of overweight and obesity – biological, behavioural, social, psychological, technological, environmental, economic and cultural – operating at all levels from the individual to the family to society as a whole. Examples of these factors include more sedentary “screen time” for children, lack of access to physical activity opportunities, the marketing of foods and beverages high in fat, sugar and/or sodium to children and increased fast-food availability and increasing portion sizes. Societal trends have dramatically altered the nature of play and the way children interact with their environment. These trends have included a significant decrease in outdoor recreation, sleep and healthy eating opportunities and now promote an increased dependence on electronic media and sedentary activities.

These changes in our society and the environments we live have encouraged, what is referred to as “obesogenic environments”. Obesogenic environments are, “the sum of influences that the surroundings, opportunities, or conditions of life have on promoting obesity in individuals or populations.” Simply put, obesogenic environments are places that encourage people to eat unhealthily and not exercise enough. These are areas where high fat, high calorie food is often plentiful and the physical environment is not conducive to physical activity opportunities. Factors in the environment that promote the overconsumption of energy (food) include the easy availability of a wide variety of good-tasting, inexpensive, energy-dense foods in large portions. Other environmental factors tend to reduce total energy expenditure by reducing physical activity. Over time, all of these environmental forces produce gradual weight gain in the population.

Weight gain happens when energy ingested (food and drink) is more than energy burned off (physical activity). A very small number of problems with unhealthy weights in childhood are related to uncommon genetic diseases.

These complex and interacting systems are further complicated by a wide variety of policy decisions made in a number of different sectors that influence childhood obesity.

Children at risk of becoming overweight or obese include children who:

consume food and drinks that are high in sugar and fat on a regular basis such as fast food, candy, baked goods, and ESPECIALLY pop and other sugar-sweetened beverages
are not physically active each day
watch a lot of TV and play a lothttp://childhoodobesityfoundation.ca/what-is-childhood-obesity/ of video games, activities that don’t burn calories (sedentary time)
live in an environment where healthy eating and physical activity are not encouraged
eat to help deal with stress or social problems
come from a family of overweight people where genetics may be a factor, especially if healthy eating and physical activity are not a priority in the family
come from a low-income family who do not have the resources or time to make healthy eating and active living a priority
are exposed to the aggressive marketing of energy-dense foods and beverages to children and families
have a lack of information about sound approaches to nutrition
have a lack of access, availability and affordability to healthy foods
have a genetic disease or hormone disorder such as Prader-Willi syndrome or Cushing’s syndrome

http://childhoodobesityfoundation.ca/what-is-childhood-obesity/