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Until recently the battle of the bulge has been fought primarily by adults. Today, however, the largest growing segments among the obese are our children and adolescents.

With this new epidemic come grave health consequences for future generations. While scientists are busy looking at genetic factors, hormonal imbalances, and drugs to correct these problems, we can’t ignore the greatest culprits in this epidemic–poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. The good news is that these are the factors that we have control over. With guidance and support, there is much that parents can do to help their children achieve a healthy body weight.

Decreased Activity + Poor Nutrition = Overweight Children

Two factors–nutrition (calories in) and activity (calories out)–are the most important determinants of body weight. With unlimited supplies of soft drinks, candy, chips, and fast food, and increasingly sedentary lifestyles it’s no wonder that our children are becoming as supersized as the meals they are consuming.

Regular exercise and physical activity is critical for weight loss and overall health, yet with each passing year our children are becoming less active. The availability and popularity of television, video games, and computers has drawn children out of the baseball diamonds, ice rinks, and parks into the house after school. The average Canadian child watches television for three to five hours a day, according to a study reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2000. When you combine this with the more than six hours a day that children spend sitting in classrooms, it’s easy to see how inactive they’ve become.

School cutbacks have led to the removal of physical education programs, which has worsened this situation. According to The Canadian Teacher’s Federation, only one-third of all schools have formal physical education programs.

Once a child becomes overweight and experiences physical limitations due to the excess weight, it becomes even more difficult to get them involved in sports and activities. Fear of being teased, feelings of shame, and insecurities may further keep a child away from athletics.

Poor nutrition and excessive calorie intake is the other side of this coin. As families struggle to manage work, relationships, children, and life stresses, they often fall prey to prepackaged, calorie-dense, fast-food options in an effort to save time. These are the foods that children are conditioned to desire as they are bombarded with advertisements on radio, television, and billboards for fast food and junk food.

In the US approximately $11 billion is spent each year to market and promote fast food chains. On average, each child is annually exposed to 10,000 TV commercials for food. These commercials entice children to fast-food chains with offers for toys from their favourite movies and TV shows.

Discouraging Data

A 15-year Statistics Canada study of boys and girls shows that Canada has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the world. The study looked at children between the ages of seven and 13, using data from the 1981 Canada Fitness Survey and the 1996 National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Results from this study revealed:

Sherry Torkos, BSc Pharm, is a pharmacist, author, and fitness instructor frequently featured on TV and radio shows throughout North America. She is coauthor of Breaking the Age Barrier (Viking Canada, 2003). Visit: sherrytorkos.com.

Source: alive #263, September 2004