The health of our children should be addressed seriously and action should be taken immediately! We cannot keep on ignoring the fact that we have a young population who is overly obese and potentially diseased. We should avoid acting like ostriches, hiding our heads in the sand until damage is already done.
Obesity in children has risen dramatically in the last 20 years, affecting their health as toddlers, youngsters, adolescents and as young adults. More than ever before, they have become afflicted with adult disorders, ranging from metabolic syndromes (adult onset diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disorders…) to thyroids disruption and more.
Unfortunately, we, as parents, have fuelled these conditions, unintentionally but more through neglect, when we left the nourishment of our children in the hands of fast food eateries and schools instead of feeding them homemade food around the dining table with parents and siblings. This led them to become addicted to junk food, empty in nutrients and abundant in saturated and trans fats and refined sugar and carbohydrates (doughy bread), which makes them obese, undernourished and unhealthy. Not only that, they also miss on the discussions that take place around the table with their families, limiting their social skills and intellectual capacity. As a result, they have become overfed, lazy, inactive, unproductive, ineffective and a burden on parents and society. Parents should also set for their children the good example by keeping “healthy” weights and offering nutritious meals at home.
According to 2007 statistics, not only children have a problem with obesity, three million Saudi adults are classified as obese and suffering from various illnesses in consequence, costing the government over three billion dollars a year in consultation fees, medication and surgical procedures. The condition, as stated, is due to unhealthy practices of overconsumption of refined sugar and carbohydrates, fries and fats, poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. In 2005, the study showed that 70 percent of females and 50 percent of males in Saudi Arabia were diagnosed as obese. The percentage may have escalated since then. Other Gulf countries are also suffering from the same condition.
Not many of us are aware that obesity is a health hazard that ultimately leads to many complicated diseases. Some individuals view excess weight as “sihha,” meaning “good health,” whereas surplus body fat is medically known to be “unhealthy.” Fat especially around the waist, regardless of age, provokes the secretion of inflammatory compounds, resulting in silent inflammation that leads to brain, heart and vascular diseases and even cancer. Fat grows everywhere in the body and around vital organs as well. It disrupts hormones and neurotransmitters, which are needed for healthy body functions and to activate the brain and neuron signals. Fat also settles and obstructs blood vessels; blocks coronary arteries with plaque and blood clots; and slows down blood and nutrient circulation in the body and brain.
When fat oversaturates the cells, it blocks their insulin receptors, resulting in insulin resistance. The condition depletes the pancreas of insulin, causing diabetes. This type of diabetes was rarely seen in children and adolescents. Unfortunately, many school children have developed it and parents are suffering the consequences. With obesity, fat cells increase in size and then divide, multiplying in numbers. Despite weight loss, fat cells only decrease in size, but the number of cells remains the same.
Obesity also disrupts the thyroid glands, leading to hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid glands) and thyroid cancer, a common disorder in our country. This kind of cancer can be triggered by other factors as well. Sadly enough, overweight children become predisposed to thyroid problems.
Obesity and excess body fat are associated with silent inflammation, which causes bone loss. Fat cells release inflammatory compounds that break down bone composition. It could also be that the obese consume too much “unhealthy” fats, sodium, refined sugar and carbohydrates and soda drinks, which lead to bone loss as well. Such a nutrient-empty diet also makes them miss out on the goodness of nutrient-dense whole fresh fruits and vegetables and lean protein. High levels of body fat and body mass index (BMI) take a toll on the bones and provoke bone loss, weakening them, especially if the body is not toned with muscles.
Excess body weight contributes to less movement and less exercise. Physical activity encourages flexibility and good reflexes, builds muscle tissue and gives strength and good reflexes to prevent bone loss and fractures. It also helps the mineralization of bones and toning of muscles, which relieve the skeletal frame and spine of body weight. Muscle building and aerobic training protect the bones and support the skeleton, preventing brittle bones, bone fractures and deformities.
An unbalanced nutrition, poor in vitamins and minerals and rich in calories, soda drinks, sodium, refined sugar, carbohydrates and saturated and trans fats, encourages weight gain, leading to slower movements, weaker muscles and bones, less energy, fatigue, hormonal imbalance and metabolic syndromes such as obesity, diabetes Type 2, cardiovascular disorder and hypertension. Moreover, obesity is a stressful condition on cells, organs, systems, heart, brain, bones, immunity and energy.
Studies have shown that early weaning from breast milk and introducing formula and solids at an early stage of infancy can contribute to overweight babies, toddlers, adolescents and eventually adults. Breast milk is a complete nutrition for the mental development and physical growth of infants and until the age of two. There is no need to supplement with formula or solids that early.
According to the US Department of Health, “what happens in the first years of a baby’s life has a big effect on how healthy they are in the future.” Metabolic syndromes like obesity, adult onset diabetes, cardiovascular disorder and others can become pediatric problems if obesity is not arrested at an early age, even as young as two years.
Lack of physical exercise is also implicated in child obesity. Children who are not active enough are more likely to be overweight and lazy. Long hours of television watching and video game playing are big deterrents to exercise and sports. Inactivity can interfere in the healthy mental development and physical growth of children, making them sedentary, unhealthy, unproductive and uncreative.
Now is the time, even though late, for us to become more proactive at home and at schools and on government levels to protect our children from “unhealthy” eating habits of fast, fried and fatty foods, oversized soda, sweetened and caffeinated drinks, creamy ice-creams, milk shakes and cakes, which contain loads of refined sugar and carbohydrates, isolated fructose and saturated and trans fats. This is of course easier said than done since this kind of food is widespread and easily available to our children who have developed an affinity to such “garbage” (excuse the word)!!!
Artificial additives (coloring, flavoring, preservatives), taste enhancers (monosodium glutamate, MSG) and artificial sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin) should not be included in their foods as they interfere with children’s mental and school performance and make them hyperactive. Moreover, schools should become more responsible and involved in order to ban such “harmful” foods in their surroundings. They should also encourage physical training and sports and insist on it. We have a saying, “the sane mind is in the healthy body.”
According to Doctor John Harrington, assistant professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, obesity “should be a wake up call for doctors,” as disease and “medical complications arise before they begin treatment.” This also calls for parents to make meaningful changes to their own eating habits and activity patterns in order to set good examples to their toddlers and teenagers and watch for signs of weight problems even at the cradle level. It should start with parents at home and schools should help to change such health-harming behavioral problems and encourage good eating habits and physical training.
Let us take into account that with obesity, disease and disorders can emerge at very young ages and without warning, requiring medication and hospitalization. If obesity is not stopped early enough, the risk will keep on escalating. The result will be an unproductive unhealthy generation, becoming a burden on families and society.
Our children are the most precious possessions in our lives. Their suffering is ours for life. The care we give them today will reflect on their health and wellbeing tomorrow. The symptoms they have when they are young are indicators of their state of health when they are older. Unfortunately, some may not even enjoy riper ages!
N.B.: Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.
To read previous Health Solutions articles, visit:
www.arabnews.com/life.style
Health Solutions: Our children, our future!
Health Solutions: Our children, our future!
