Childhood obesity panel: 40 million kids under 5 overweight

A World Health Organisation report released yesterday showed the biggest rise in childhood obesity was in developing countries.

The number of overweight children under five years of age is set to nearly double from 42 million to 70 million worldwide, which is a ticking global pandemic.

“WHO needs to work with governments to implement a wide range of measures that address the environmental causes of obesity and overweight, and help give children the healthy start to life they deserve”, said Peter Gluckman, ECHO co-chair. An estimated 48% of overweight children in the world live in Asia and 25% live in Africa. In their report, World Health Organization informed that Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Botswana have the highest number of obese children in the African zone.

Child obesity in the developing world has hit alarming proportions, a WHO commission points out.

“Overweight and obesity impact on a child’s quality of life, as they face a wide range of barriers, including physical, psychological and health consequences”, Sania Nishtar, ECHO co-chair, said in a statement.

The statistics, published by the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, mean that 6.1% of under-fives were overweight or obese in 2014, compared with 4.8% in 1990.

The first, called the “mismatch” pathway, results from even subtle malnutrition during pregnancy and early childhood, which can impact gene function and make a child far more likely to excessively gain weight.

The role of food education was also emphasised in the report, which recommended nutrition literacy be a core part of the curriculum as well as bans on the sale of foods high in salt, sugar and fat in schools.

Gluckman and the other authors of the report stated that the overweight/obesity rates have increased over the past years due to biological factors, poor access to healthier food options, lower levels of exercise, especially in schools, and the failure to regulate foods that are high in bad fats and sugar.

The report also called on governments to promote the intake of healthy foods and reduce the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages by children and adolescents, through effective taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages and curbing the marketing of unhealthy foods, for example.

A graphic showing a football.

Along with the tax measures, it was also recommended that governments introduce restrictions on advertising fast-food, and require food producers to affix packaging with standardized labels or stickers which provide concise details on the nutritional value and health value of foods.

Promote physical activity with comprehensive programmes that reduce sedentary behaviours in children and adolescents.

“Childhood obesity is often under-recognised as a public health issue in these settings, where, culturally, an overweight child is often considered to be healthy”, WHO experts said in their report. In low-income nations, the trend was reversed.