Obesity and Malnutrition

Obesity

• Obesity is a serious problem among U.S. preschoolers. Based on a comparison of 34 countries, the United States has the second- highest rate of childhood obesity.
• Contributing factors include both hereditary and environmental influences.
• There is some evidence that we have improved as a society when it comes to rates of obesity in the last 10 years, though we still lag strongly behind other developed countries, and it presents as a serious problem today.

Obesity Prevention

• Prevention of obesity in the early years, when excessive weight gain usually begins, is critical.

• Minority and low-income children are at a disproportionately high risk of being obese.

• Parents can often be in denial.

  • In one study, all the children were at or above the 95th percentile in weight for their height, but 81% of their parents said their child was healthy and 50% were not concerned about their child’s weight.
  • Parents often explained their lack of concern by saying the child would simply grow out of it, was tall or big-boned. Unfortunately, pediatric findings suggest otherwise.

• When creating an intervention, it is important to understand parents’ perspectives on a situation to help motivate and explain the use of resources.

• Data suggest that three factors are important in the prevention of obesity:

  1. Regularly eating an evening meal as a family.
  2. Getting adequate sleep
  3. Watching less than 2 hours of television a day

• Other recommendations include:

  • Encourage a child to help prepare food.
  • Turn childish delights to advantage. Serve food in appealing dishes; dress it up with garnishes; themes
  • Limit snacking while watching television.
  • Discourage nutrient-poor foods such as salty snacks, fried foods, ice cream, cookies, and sweetened beverages, and instead suggest nutritious snack foods, such as fruits and raw vegetables.
  • Have regular family meals.
  • Make mealtimes pleasant with conversation on interesting topics, keeping talk about eating itself to a minimum.
  • Don’t fight individual preferences and rituals e.g. a child eats foods one at a time, in a certain order.

Physical Activity

• CDC recommends that children under the age of 5 get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day, many children do not reach this goal.
• Researchers have found that:
  • Children are more likely to spend time in vigorous physical activity when they are outdoors
  • Boys engage in more physical activity than girls
  • The amount of daily physical activity varies considerably from one preschool setting to another.
• In one study, 70% of the children’s time in childcare was sedentary, and for 88% of their day, there were no opportunities for active play.
• Some of the factors that make it difficult for more physical activity include:
  • Lack of facilities or time in the daily schedule
  • Lack of training for care providers on what activities are appropriate for their age group
  • Restrictive center policies regarding the safety of children.
• Parents can give young children opportunities by getting them outside whenever possible or creating some space inside where they can move freely.
• They do not need a lot of structures activities for jumping, hopping, skipping

Malnutrition

• Undernourished children live in extremely deprived circumstances.
• Poor diet depresses the immune system, making children far more susceptible to disease
• Deprivations negatively affect physical growth and well-being, as well as cognitive and psychosocial development.
• Early education help counter the effects of undernourishment.
• Dehydration resulting from loose stool serious problem in less-developed countries, one of main causes of death in these areas
• Solutions and therapies targeting dehydration is important

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