Childhood obesity is one of the most serious problems suffered by children in recent years. The poor diet that causes it can end up leading to dangerous diseases such as type 2 diabetes .
According to the ‘Aladdin’ study carried out by the Food Safety and Nutrition Agency ( AESAN ), 45.2% of boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 9 suffer from weight problems. Specifically, 26.1% are overweight and 19.1% are obese.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also ruled on this and declares that obesity and overweight have reached global epidemic characters. In the world there are more than one billion overweight adults, of which 300 million suffer from obesity.
In recent years, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes (DM 2) has increased in the population of children and young people, coinciding with the increase in obesity and sedentary lifestyle in these ages. The abuse of foods rich in fat, sugar and salt , the low intake of fruits and vegetables, and all this associated with the decrease in physical activity among children, has caused childhood obesity to accelerate processes that previously took longer to appear.
Fats, sugars and television, bad habits
Among the risk factors are obesity, family history of type 2 diabetes, belonging to ethnic minorities (Hispanics, African-Americans…), low or high birth weight, puberty and female sex, among others.
At first, this disease can go almost unnoticed as it does not present symptoms or on the contrary, it can show the classic symptoms of diabetes. For this reason, Dr. Mª Antònia Caravaca, pediatric endocrinologist at the USP Dexeus Pediatric Service, explains that ” the initial treatment must be intensive due to the high risk of chronic complications and is based on improving the diet and increasing exercise, reaching in some cases to need insulin “.
In fact, the incidence of childhood diabetes would not have such a high incidence if families carried out good eating habits such as breast feeding, intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish … that is, the “Mediterranean diet” and daily physical exercise will be promoted, which has been reduced, above all, because of television
On the other hand, genes determine our body shape where the body stores and burns fat In other words, several people in a family being overweight can cause their children to be affected by this problem as well.
