Childhood & Adolescent Obesity Care at Nyle Hospital
Childhood and adolescent obesity is one of the serious problems having more effects on well-being and health.
Immediate Effects:
Obesity in children and adolescents increase the risk of sleep apnoea, bone and joint related problems, as well as social
and psychological issues including low self-esteem and stigmatisation.
Obese adolescents show a condition of prediabetes, wherein their levels of blood glucose indicate a sign of developing diabetes.
Youths who are obese are subjected to high risk of cardiovascular disorders, including high levels of blood pressure or cholesterol.
Obese children and adolescents are subjected to psychiatric problems such as anxiety, depression and eating disorder
Long-term Effects:
Children and adolescent obesity would continue in the adulthood too. The risk of adulthood health problems, including
heart disease, cancers, stroke, type 2 diabetes, kidney stones and osteoarthritis, is more when compared to those who were
normal until adolescence, but became obese at adulthood.
Overweight or obesity increase the risk of cancer in women, such as colon, breast, esophagus, endometrium, pancreas, kidney, thyroid,
gall bladder, ovary, prostate and cervix cancer as well as Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
Obese persons are subjected to gall stones, fatty liver disease, gastroesophogeal reflux disease and constipation.
Recommendations for Preventing Childhood and Adolescent Obesity
Healthcare providers help to manage childhood and adolescent obesity through their obesity management approaches. Some of the recommendations to control obesity include:
Awareness of obesity related issues and basic prevention tips should be educated to families during child birth.
Assessment of daily diet, sedentary and physical activities must be done every year, probably during annual well-child visit.
Schools must seek ways in making the students realise the value of healthy eating habits and physical activities.
Children must try to get at the least 60 min of basic daily exercises.
Parents and others must follow the suggestions counselled by a clinician such as:
Limit the consumption of sweetened beverages by children.
Include recommended amount of vegetables and fruits in diet.
Avoid junk foods completely.
Practise the habit of eating together so that parents can watch their children’s eating habits.
Avoid outside food, particularly fast foods.
Parents must increase or decrease food portion sizes as per age.
Do not over feed the kids.
Avoid television strictly for preschool kids.
Consuming snacks between meals should neither be supported nor avoided.
Limit television watching time to less than 2 h each day.
Children must be allowed to self-regulate their own meals.
Children should increase their sleep duration, because short sleep tends to increase the risk of overweight in
children of 0 – 18 years of age.