Childhood obesity: dietary fats acquitted, but diet is often lacking
Obesity in Children: Omega-3s Help, but the Diet Needs to Be Controlled
BMI (Body Mass Index) is linked to sugar consumption. Nutritional deficiencies, including omega-3s, have been highlighted. Childhood overweight is an emerging problem, and Italian children are the fattest in Europe. This is the result of an alarming statistic from a few years ago. It's not just an aesthetic issue: excess weight can lead to health problems, and with a fair degree of certainty, a fat child will become an obese adult.
But what are the causes of childhood overweight?
Some answers come from a Swedish study involving 180 four-year-old Swedish children. 20% of these children, all from middle to high-income backgrounds and in good health, were overweight, and the increase in BMI (Body Mass Index) was due to an increase in fat. How can we help these children lose weight? Do we need to eliminate fats? No! In fact, the study reveals that the chubbier children were the ones who consumed the least fats. Instead, a finger is pointed at the excessive consumption of sugars, and the poor quality of their diet: on average, children ate less than half of the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables, and a quarter of their calories came from "junk" food: sweets, snacks, ice cream, soft drinks, and cookies. Several deficiencies were highlighted: calcium, vitamin D, iron, but especially too few omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The children with the greatest deficiencies in polyunsaturated fatty acids were the ones who weighed the most, in line with a previous study that showed an omega-3 deficiency in obese children. Many girls already showed the first signs of metabolic syndrome, a condition characterized by central obesity, hypertension, and disturbances in glucose and insulin metabolism. Metabolic syndrome is linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Source:
M. H. Garemo - Nutrition and Health in 4-Year-Olds in a Swedish Well-Educated Community. Swedish Research Council
