A matter of concern

[Mathew Moothasseril]

WHO releases new guidelines to manage childhood obesity
Published on: 2:11 am, October 12, 2017 by: mattersindia .com



+


–


With increasing evidence that childhood obesity is a “global
epidemic”, affecting even the poorer nations, the World Health
Organization (WHO) has released new guidelines on how trained
professionals can better identify youngsters in need of help.

India has the second highest number of obese children in the world
after China, according to a study published in The New England Journal
of Medicine in June last.

Doctors say the identification of obesity in children is the main
issue, as often parents think a chubby child is a healthy child.

The WHO guidelines, titled “Assessing and managing children at primary
healthcare facilities to prevent overweight and obesity in the context
of the double burden of malnutrition”, provides updates for the
Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI). The guidelines
include counselling, dieting and assessment of eating habits along
with the usual weight and height measurements.

H.P. Sachdev, former national president of the Indian Academy of
Paediatrics, who is part of the guideline development group, told The
Hindu, “In 2016, one half of all children overweight or obese lived in
Asia and one quarter lived in Africa. Paradoxically, overweight and
obesity is found in populations where under-nutrition remains common —
the term ‘double-burden of malnutrition’ is sometimes used to describe
these settings.”

Dr. Sachdev said that routinely providing supplementary foods to
stunted and moderately wasted infants and children in primary
healthcare facilities was not recommended. “Early prevention is the
need of the hour to avoid an entire generation from falling prey to
heart ailments, hypertension and diabetic complications,” he said.

Sharing the message

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is disseminating the guidelines
to all its members. IMA national president K.K. Aggarwal said the
prevalence of obesity in children reflected changing patterns towards
unhealthy diets and physical inactivity.

A study published in Paediatric Obesity says India will have over 17
million children with excess weight by 2025. Quoting the WHO document,
Dr. Aggarwal said that urbanisation, increased income, availability of
fast foods, educational demands, television viewing and gaming have
led to a rise in the consumption of foods high in fats, sugar and salt
and low physical activity.

“While there have been major public health interventions to promote
improved diet and patterns of physical activity in adults, the
contribution of ante-natal and young-child interventions to reducing
the risk of obesity in later life have not been significantly
reviewed. We are writing to all our doctors explaining the
guidelines,” he said.

Anjana Hulse, paediatric endocrinologist in Apollo Hospitals,
Bengaluru, said ithe dentification of obesity in children was a major
challenge. “Parents feel the necessity to see a doctor only when their
children develop complications. Most obese children develop early
puberty, joint pain and find it difficult to exercise. This in turn
results in metabolic syndrome and they end up with Type 2 diabetes,”
she said.

(source: The Hindu)
--
*GATHER THE SCATTERED*

Fr Mathew Moothasseril
Sant Thoma Bhavan
Post Box 306
RAMAN MALA
Kolhapur,416 003
Maharashtra
INDIA