Childhood obesity is an issue of major significance in developed and developing countries, owing mostly (but not entirely) to the ready availability of unhealthy foods. Although no parent intentionally wants to make their children overweight or obese, studies have confirmed that one in five American children are clinically obese as early on as primary school. [1]
Apart from the fact that child obesity increases the chances of being overweight during teenage years and adulthood, it has also been linked to social problems and a plethora of diseases. As parents, a proactive approach must be employed to deter the early onset of obesity in our children.
Here’s the good news, though, obesity can be avoided and if your child is already obese, it can be corrected.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the factors that dispose children to obesity, its health implications and how to identify obesity. I’ll also be discussing practical steps that will help you prevent or correct obesity in your kids, so be sure to stick around and finish the article!

How to know if your child is overweight or obese?

Figuring out whether or not your child is overweight isn’t always an easy task mainly because kids grow at different rates and the amount of body fat changes with age. According to a study published in the British Journal of General Practice, an astounding 80% of parents claim that their children had normal weight when they were actually obese.
[2]
A reliable way of telling if your child is actually overweight or obese is by calculating their individual body mass index (BMI). BMI measures the body weight in relation to height. BMI calculators utilize a formula that generates a score which is used to classify the owner into obese, overweight, normal weight or underweight.
The BMI for children and teenagers is categorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) using a metric called percentile. Below are the different BMI percentile ranges and what it means.
5th to 84th percentile: healthy weight
85th to 94th percentile: overweight
95th to 99.99th percentile: obese
Although the usefulness of BMI in determining child obesity has been well established, quite a number of parents still fail in using this approach to identify obesity in their children. If you’re in that category, here are a few signs that will help you to suspect a weight problem in your kids:
When they look physically bigger than the other kids in their class
When they wear clothes that are too large for their age
When they eat the same quantity (or higher) of food as adults
When they get easily exhausted from physical exercise
When they detest balanced diets but crave junk foods
When they enjoy watching TV for over three hours per day
When they are always hungry
If you observe any of these features in your child, then taking him or her to your local pediatrician for examination would be a wise course of action.

Causes of childhood obesity
Childhood obesity can be caused by a number of factors including lifestyle, psychological issues and family history. However, the major causes of obesity can be narrowed down to just two issues – eating too much and not exercising enough.
Below are more specific causes of childhood obesity.
1. Genetic potential
The phrase “like father, like son” and “like mother, like daughter” is certainly not a myth when it comes to body weight. There’s a strong genetic factor in obesity, therefore, children whose parents are obese are more likely to have weight problems than children whose parents are lean. [3]
That said, obesity is not totally predetermined. Although genes play an important role, the things you eat (or don’t eat) play a more important role in determining which genes get expressed, including the gene responsible for obesity.
2. Junk-food addiction
The ready availability of ultra-processed (junk) foods has played no small role in increasing the incidence of obesity – especially in children. These high-fat, sugar-sweetened junk foods are designed to last long and taste so good that it’ll be almost impossible to resist.
Unfortunately, study after study has exposed this as a major cause of food addiction in both children and adults.[4] Junk foods stimulate the brain’s reward centers, resulting in an insatiable craving for more.
[5] And once your kid gets addicted to junk foods, obesity is almost inevitable.
3. Insulin resistance
Insulin is an important hormone that controls energy storage. In simple terms, it is responsible for telling fat cells to store more fat and that, of course, results in weight gain. When kids eat junk foods, the excessive caloric content encourages insulin resistance by increasing insulin levels in the body and this results in more energy being stored as fat.
[6]
While different research studies on the effect of insulin on childhood obesity come up with controversial results, several studies have revealed a consistent correlation between high level of insulin and development of obesity. [7] To deal with the insulin problem, increase fiber intake in your child’s diet and reduce refined sugars .[8]
4. Inadequate exercising
The role of proper exercising in maintaining a healthy weight is indispensable because physical exercise helps to burn calories, which results in fat loss. [9] Unfortunately many kids don’t get enough daily physical exercise and that results in the development of weight problems.
Uncontrolled access to TV and video games also play a huge role in reducing the extent of physical exercise that kids have access to. If this situation is left uncontrolled, it will greatly increase the chances of your child becoming overweight or obese.
The serious effect of childhood obesity
Childhood obesity tends to have very serious implications on the health and social life of kids. Here are a few of them:
1. Increased risk of type-2 diabetes
Children who are overweight or obese have a higher chance of developing type-2 diabetes. [10] Type-2 diabetes occurs when the body is unable to properly metabolize glucose and it can lead to several other problems such as nerve damage, kidney dysfunction and eye disease.

Click the link below to read more on child obesity

https://www.healthwahala.com.ng/2018/06/how-to-prevent-child-obesity-and-help.html?m=1