India may be in the green as far as childhood obesity goes but changing lifestyle habits of school-going wards in Hyderabad and elsewhere, captured in numerous studies and by treating physicians, lays bare the need for immediate course correction.
“Identifying obesity or overweight in a child is crucial and can be done with a growth chart. However, even if these conditions are identified, it is not a red flag for parents who associate higher weight with better health in children,” said Dr. T. Karthik, senior paediatrician with Yashoda Hospitals. A recently published study based on data obtained from 850 school-going children aged 5-10 years, found incidence of childhood obesity at 2.7 percent. Importantly, the study found a significant link between junk food and obesity; children with normal weight reported consuming more junk food than overweight and obese children. This led researchers to suspect lack of physical activity among children with higher than normal body mass. Though childhood obesity does not correspond to health disorders like in adults, the major concern is that children could remain obese or overweight when they turn into adults. Ominously, the latest National Family Health Survey estimates that nearly a fourth of men and women in Telangana are either obese or overweight, with higher incidence in the urban population.
This World Obesity Day, observed on Wednesday, the World Obesity Federation, a global community of researchers and doctors that aim fight childhood obesity through a three-pronged approach based on WHO recommendations that places onus of combating obesity on the government, schools and parents. “We are addressing obesity through the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram. In Telangana around 300 mobile health clinics visit children and check their growth. Any undesirable changes warrant a referral to a physician,” said Dr. G. Srinivas Rao, Chief Programme Officer, National Health Mission, Telangana.
Rohit PS
