Recent headlines in newspapers and magazines are bringing the growing waistlines of America’s children to light. But, are the overweight and obesity problems of children unique to the United States?
The trends are clear for adults around the world. In countries as diverse as Japan, Brazil, Western Samoa, and Mauritius, a similar picture can be painted: for men, women, and children, overweight and obesity are increasingly becoming the norm. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1.2 billion people worldwide are classified as overweight and 250 million are classified as obese. Worldwide, this is equivalent to 7 percent of the adult population.
What About the Children?
It is widely accepted that overweight or obese children have a greater risk of growing up to be overweight or obese adults. Obesity poses a major risk for serious diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. For this reason, many countries are looking toward prevention efforts for children, rather than focusing solely on treating the obesity that already exists. In the United States the problem is clearly evident among children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that 25 percent of children ages 2 to 20 years are, or are at risk of becoming, overweight or obese—twice the rate of obesity seen just a decade ago. This figure is based upon the latest growth charts released by CDC in 2000 for American children.
Around the world, the data are not always as clear but the trends are the same. Part of the problem has been that there is no consistent agreement on what defines overweight or obesity for children. Body mass index (BMI), although useful for measuring adults, is a less effective measure for children since body composition changes dramatically with age. The growth charts from CDC can be a useful tool for health professionals, who can use them to track children’s progress over time and monitor movement among percentiles that may signal risk for weight issues.
In May 2000, the British Medical Journal published new standards for children based on data from six countries. These standards were developed by a working group of world experts of the International Obesity Task Force, a committee of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. Countries around the world are now using these new standards to estimate the current rate of childhood obesity as well as for future surveillance.
The Weight Gap
An increasing dichotomy can be seen in many developing countries, whose populations are facing the serious problems of hunger and malnutrition as well as obesity and overnutrition.
For example, although the majority of India’s citizens are undernourished, a growing sector of mostly wealthy Indians is becoming obese. In fact, an editorial in a recent issue of the Journal of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics calls for the issue to be given urgent attention.
Global Childhood Obesity Facts and Figures:
- Approximately 20% of Australian children and adolescents are currently overweight or obese
- Obesity is highest in the wealthiest, city-dwelling Chinese, where one in every ten children is considered obese
- In Chile, 30% of children are overweight or obese
- Only 45% of 11 year old English boys and 37% of girls report exercising two hours a week or more
- About half of European adults will be obese by 2030, partly because of an emerging epidemic of obesity among children and adolescents
Sources: Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, Australian Associated Press
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“The problem is just emerging,” says N. K. Arora, an epidemiologist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. “It is a paradoxical situation: while we have about 53 percent of children who suffer malnutrition because of undernutrition, there is another class emerging which is suffering from a different kind of malnutrition. ’’
Other examples of the global rise in childhood obesity include Malaysia, Japan, and China. In Malaysia, where obesity was once relatively rare, a 1998 survey shows that nearly 17 percent of Malaysian boys and 8 percent of Malaysian girls are obese. In the National Survey of Primary and Middle Schools in Japan, between 1970 and 1997, obesity in 9 year-old children increased three-fold. Further, in Shanghai, China, 7 percent of children are obese, a six-fold increase in 10 years. Even so, these countries also have the responsibility of assisting those still lacking in adequate nutrition.
Why is this Happening?
Childhood obesity, just like adult obesity, is caused by an imbalance between calories-in and calories-out. But this simple equation is confounded by complex social factors that influence how children eat, exercise, and play.
The WHO describes obesity as a “complex condition, one with serious social and psychological dimensions, that affects virtually all age and socioeconomic groups and threatens to overwhelm both developed and developing countries.” It is clear that no one solution can address this epidemic adequately. Rather, many approaches are needed.
According to James Hill, Ph. D., at the University of Colorado Center for Human Nutrition, “Childhood obesity is a complex problem that needs to be raised to a much higher level of public health priority and that lacks unified strategies to redress.”
Until more public awareness, research and understanding emerge on the issue of childhood overweight and obesity, a long-term solution is not likely to emerge any time soon. One thing is certain: comprehensive strategies that consider both physical activity and nutrition in home, school, and community settings are needed for remedial actions to be effective.
