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WHO raises alarm over childhood obesity

By Chukwuma Muanya, Assistant Editor (Head Insight Team, Science and Technology)
28 January 2016   |   4:05 am
• Backs ‘sugar tax’ campaign to curb situation, wants schools to ban unhealthy food • Low-income households most influenced by price and at greatest risk • Phenomenon is reaching ‘alarming proportions’ in developing countries • Sweet diets identified as biggest cause of early death The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised alarm over global increase…

Childhood-obesity-complications

• Backs ‘sugar tax’ campaign to curb situation, wants schools to ban unhealthy food
• Low-income households most influenced by price and at greatest risk
• Phenomenon is reaching ‘alarming proportions’ in developing countries
• Sweet diets identified as biggest cause of early death

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised alarm over global increase in childhood obesity especially in developing countries even as it backs campaign to introduce sugar tax and ban unhealthy food in schools.

The WHO in a major report presented on Tuesday by the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO) said childhood obesity has become an ‘exploding nightmare.’

The ECHO presented its final report to the WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, Tuesday, culminating a two-year process to address the alarming levels of childhood obesity and overweight globally.

The WHO has joined those calling for a sugar tax on soft drinks alongside a crackdown on the marketing of junk food, to tackle the global scourge.

It says there is strong evidence a sugar tax can work alongside other measures, such as reducing big portion sizes and introducing clearer food labelling.

Its authors state the epidemic is also increasing at an alarming rate in the developing world.

In Africa, the number of children who are overweight or obese has nearly doubled since 1990, increasing from 5.4 million to 10.3 million.

The ECHO report proposes a range of recommendations for governments aimed at reversing the rising trend of children aged under-five years becoming overweight and obese.

At least 41 million children in this age group are obese or overweight, with the greatest rise in the number of children being obese or overweight coming from low- and middle-income countries.

Commission co-chair, Sir Peter Gluckman, said: “Increased political commitment is needed to tackle the global challenge of childhood overweight and obesity.

“WHO needs to work with governments to implement a wide range of measures that address the environmental causes of obesity and overweight, and help give children the healthy start to life they deserve.”

Fellow Commission co-chair, Dr. Sania Nishtar, adds: “Overweight and obesity impact on a child’s quality of life, as they face a wide range of barriers, including physical, psychological and health consequences. We know that obesity can impact on educational attainment too and this, combined with the likelihood that they will remain obese into adulthood, poses major health and economic consequences for them, their families and society as a whole.”

According to the report, many children are growing up today in environments encouraging weight gain and obesity. Driven by globalization and urbanization, exposure to unhealthy (obesogneic) environments is increasing in high-, middle- and low-income countries and across all socioeconomic groups. The marketing of unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages was identified as a major factor in the increase in numbers of children being overweight and obese, particularly in the developing world.

Overweight prevalence among children aged under five years has risen between 1990 and 2014, from 4.8 per cent to 6.1 per cent, with numbers of affected children rising from 31 million to 41 million during that time. The number of overweight children in lower middle-income countries has more than doubled over that period, from 7.5 million to 15.5 million.

In 2014, almost half (48 per cent) of all overweight and obese children aged under-five lived in Asia and one-quarter (25 per cent) in Africa. The number of overweight children aged under five in Africa has nearly doubled since 1990 (5.4 million to 10.3 million).

The ECHO Report has six main recommendations for governments
Promote intake of healthy foods

Implement comprehensive programmes that promote the intake of healthy foods and reduce the intake of unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages by children and adolescents (through, for example, effective taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages and curbing the marketing of unhealthy foods).
Promote physical activity

Implement comprehensive programmes that promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviors in children and adolescents.
Preconception and pregnancy care.
Preconception and pregnancy care

Integrate and strengthen guidance for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) with current guidance on preconception and antenatal care (to reduce risk of childhood obesity by preventing low or high birth weight, prematurity and other complications in pregnancy).
Early childhood diet and physical activity

Provide guidance on, and support for, healthy diet, sleep and physical activity in early childhood and promote healthy habits and ensure children grow appropriately and develop healthy habits (by promoting breastfeeding; limiting consumption of foods high in fat, sugar and salt; ensuring availability of healthy foods and physical activity in the early child care settings).
Health, nutrition and physical activity for school-age children

Implement comprehensive programmes that promote healthy school environments, health and nutrition literacy and physical activity among school-age children and adolescents (by establishing standards for school meals; eliminating the sale of unhealthy foods and drinks and; including health and nutrition and quality physical education in the core curriculum);
Weight management

Provide family-based, multi component, lifestyle weight management services for children and young people who are obese.

The ECHO findings urge WHO to institutionalize, throughout the Organization, a cross-cutting and life-course approach to ending childhood obesity. The report also identifies a range of actions to be undertaken by other players, calling for nongovernmental organizations to raise the profile of childhood obesity and advocate for improvements in the environment, and for the private sector to support the production and improved access to foods and beverages that contribute to a healthy diet.

Following two years of research in more than 100 countries, the authors underscored that governments and global health organisations were central to reversing the unwelcome trend.

Members of the Commission said it was no longer sufficient to rely on ‘simple codes’ for food labelling such as the traffic lights system popular in the UK.

They called for tighter regulations around the marketing of food and drinks to children ‘ to reduce the exposure of children and adolescents to, and the power of, the marketing of unhealthy foods’.

Meanwhile, earlier studies have shown that most food and drink products are laden with sugar and are killing the human race softly.

From soft drinks or rather carbonated drinks to fruit juices, baby foods, beverages, biscuits to cereals are all sugar-based.

In fact, a new study has warned that poor diet is the biggest contributor to early deaths across the world.

Sugar has been identified as the key driving force behind obesity and associated ill health including type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, some types of cancer and tooth decay in children.

Experts said 21 per cent of global deaths could be attributed to diets high in red meat and sugary drinks, and lacking in fruit, vegetables and whole-grains.

According to the study published in The Lancet, unhealthily contributes to the most deaths worldwide by triggering ailments including heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

The top risks associated with the premature deaths of both men and women are high blood pressure, smoking, high body mass index (BMI), and high blood sugar levels, researchers found.

But the greatest cumulative affect on health comes from poor diet, they warned.

The team looked at 14 dietary risk factors, including the consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole-grains, nuts and seeds, milk, processed meat, sugary drinks, fibre, calcium, salt, seafood and different types of fat. An earlier study published in June 2015 edition of the journal Circulation found that sodas and other sugary drinks may cause up to 184,000 deaths a year worldwide.

Billed as a first, the report analyzed the global risks of death due to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers linked to the consumption of sugary drinks.

Researchers estimated that around 133,000 people died from diabetes due-to the consumption of what the report called “sugar-sweetened beverages.” Around 45,000 people died globally from cardiovascular diseases arising from sugary drink consumption and 6,450 people died from cancers linked to the beverages, researchers estimated.

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