There is no simple solution to childhood obesity, but through education and awareness, physicians can steer their patients in a healthy direction.
September marks the beginning of a busy season for your physician customers: back to school. It’s also National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. In addition to providing important solutions, such as vaccines, needles, blood pressure cuffs, table paper, gloves, hand hygiene products, surface disinfectants and more, distributor sales reps can remind their customers to educate young patients about a serious health concern, while promoting a healthy school year.
Risks and complications
Childhood obesity is considered a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents, often leading to health problems traditionally confined to adults. Obese children are at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and sometimes develop poor self-esteem and depression, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Lifestyle issues, such as too little activity and an overload of calories from food and drink, are the main contributors to childhood obesity, notes Mayo Clinic. But, genetic and hormonal factors also play a role. In fact, recent research has found that changes in digestive hormones can affect the signals that let people know they are full. Certain genetic diseases and hormonal disorders can also make a child prone to obesity.
Other risk factors include the following, according to Mayo:
- Regularly eating high-calorie foods, such as fast foods, baked goods, vending machine snacks, soft drinks, candy and desserts can easily cause children to gain weight.
- Lack of exercise. Children who don’t exercise much – or spend too much time in sedentary activities, such as watching television or playing video games – are more likely to gain weight because they don’t burn as many calories.
- Family factors. Children born in a family of overweight people are more likely to put on weight, particularly in an environment where high-calorie foods are always available and physical activity isn’t encouraged.
- Psychological factors. Some children overeat to cope with problems or to deal with emotions, such as stress, or to fight boredom. Their parents may have similar tendencies.
- Socioeconomic factors. People in some communities have limited resources and little access to supermarkets. As a result, they may opt for convenience foods that don’t spoil quickly, such as frozen meals, crackers and cookies. In addition, people who live in lower income neighborhoods may not have access to safe places to exercise.
Complications of childhood obesity can include:
- Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body uses sugar (glucose).
- Metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome isn’t a disease itself, but a cluster of conditions that can put children at risk of developing heart disease, diabetes or other health problems. This cluster of conditions includes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, low HDL (“good”) cholesterol and excess abdominal fat.
- High cholesterol and high blood pressure. Children can develop high blood pressure or high cholesterol by eating a poor diet. These factors can contribute to the buildup of plaques in the arteries. The plaques, in turn, can cause arteries to narrow and harden, leading to a heart attack or stroke later in life.
- Children who are overweight or obese may be more likely to have asthma.
- Sleep disorders. Obstructive sleep apnea is a potentially serious disorder in which a child’s breathing repeatedly stops and starts when he or she sleeps.
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD causes fatty deposits to build up in the liver and can lead to scarring and liver damage. There usually are no symptoms associated with NAFLD.
- Early puberty or menstruation. Being obese can create hormone imbalances, which may cause puberty to start earlier than expected.
- Low self-esteem and bullying. Children often tease or bully their overweight peers, who suffer a loss of self-esteem and an increased risk of depression as a result.
- Behavior and learning problems. Overweight children tend to have more anxiety and poorer social skills than normal-weight children have. At one extreme, these problems may lead overweight children to act out and disrupt their classrooms. At the other, they may cause overweight children to socially withdraw.
- Low self-esteem can create overwhelming feelings of hopelessness in some overweight children. When children lose hope that their lives will improve, they may become depressed. A depressed child may lose interest in normal activities, sleep more than usual or cry a lot. Some depressed children hide their sadness and appear emotionally flat instead. Either way, depression is as serious in children as in adults.
For more information visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/childhood-obesity/basics/definition/con-20027428.