Obesity In Children - Stages And Treatment

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Obesity in children

The problem of overweight in children, just like in adults, appears when the energy intake exceeds its expenditure. The traditional misconception, adopted in many families, that a baby is overweight is a sign of his health and evidence of good care for him, has done a lot of harm to children's health. Many parents do not follow the rules of healthy baby food in their concern for their children to gain weight.

Content:

• Causes and consequences of childhood obesity
• The dependence of the appearance of children and adolescents on the type of obesity
• Prevention of childhood obesity
• Childhood Obesity Treatment <

Types and stages of childhood obesity

An indicator of child completeness is considered to be the thickness of the child's skin folds, as well as an abnormal weight-to-height ratio. There are tables of the child's body weight norm at each age, taking into account the gender of the children.

The deviation from the norm, expressed as a percentage, helps to establish the stage of childhood obesity:

1. Stage 1 - deviations of body weight from the norm from 10 to 29%
2. Stage 2 - weight exceeds the norm from 30 to 49%;
3. Stage 3 - the excess is from 50 to 99%;
4. Stage 4 - body weight is about 2 times more than normal (100%).

There are main types of childhood obesity:

• alimentary - a consequence of overeating and hypodynamia;
• endocrine - a consequence of metabolic disorders and diseases of the endocrine system;
• neurogenic - a consequence of previous neuroinfections or brain tumors.

Alimentary obesity accounts for about 95% of all cases of this disease. Just like in adults, overweight in childhood is classified by medicine as an independent disease with severe consequences. More than half of overweight children, growing up, do not get rid of it, but acquire severe complications of their obesity.

Causes and consequences of childhood obesity

Overweight, provoked by overeating and a sedentary lifestyle, has many factors that provoke its appearance.

The causes of childhood obesity:

• Hereditary modeling of family eating behavior;
• The predominance of carbohydrates, fats, high-calorie foods and dishes in the children's diet;
• Improperly organized complementary feeding of infants;
• Sedentary lifestyle, replacement of walks and games in the fresh air with watching TV and computer games, lack of physical activity;
• Compensation for psychological problems of adolescence (academic failure, problems in communicating with parents and peers, an inferiority complex).

The consequences of being overweight in children:

• Diabetes mellitus that is not sensitive to insulin (non-insulin dependent diabetes), when glucose cannot enter the tissue cells;
• Hypertension, angina pectoris, atherosclerosis, heart failure;
• Chronic constipation, hemorrhoids, cholecystitis, pancreatitis;
• Replacement of liver tissue with adipose tissue (hepatosis), can lead to liver cirrhosis;
• Deformity of the skeleton, posture disorders, flat feet, destruction of cartilaginous tissue, hallux valgus (legs in the shape of the letter "X");
• Sleep disorders: respiratory arrest, snoring;
• Disorder of sexual function: underdevelopment of the gonads, delayed menarche (first menstruation), the risk of future infertility;
• Osteoporosis (an imperfect or impaired process of bone formation);
• Increased risk of cancer in the future;
• Psychological disorders associated with eating disorders (bulimia, anorexia), drug addiction, alcoholism;
• Social isolation, lack of friends, social circle, urgently needed in adolescence and adolescence.

The dependence of the appearance of children and adolescents on the type of obesity

For an experienced diagnostician, it will not be difficult to determine the type of obesity by the characteristic features of the child's appearance and other symptoms. A swollen face may indicate obesity caused by hypothyroidism (a lack of thyroid hormones). It is accompanied by dry skin, bags under the eyes, weakness, increased fatigue, lack of appetite, chronic constipation. In girls with this pathology, menstrual irregularities are frequent.

Thin limbs, bright pink coloring of the cheeks, stretch marks on the abdominal skin, fat deposits on the abdomen, neck and face are signs of adrenal disease (Itsenko-Cushing's syndrome). During puberty, girls with this disease experience increased hair growth and lack of menstruation.

Small growth combined with obesity, hypothyroidism, delayed sexual development - a lack of pituitary function. It is especially dangerous when these symptoms have arisen after neuroinfections (meningitis, encephalitis), traumatic brain injury, brain surgery. Lack of pituitary hormones causes a delay in puberty in young men (underdevelopment of the genitals, lack of secondary sexual characteristics, enlargement of the sex glands).

Obesity, combined with headaches, signs of increased intracranial pressure (nausea and vomiting, dizziness), may be a sign of a brain tumor. In girls, obesity in combination with acne, menstrual irregularities, increased fat content of the face and body, excessive hair on the face and body, indicates with a high degree of probability polycystic ovary syndrome.

Prevention of childhood obesity

In order to prevent negative consequences for the growing body and not create problems in the future, you need to take care of the prevention of obesity in advance. Endocrine and neurogenic causes are largely independent of human behavior and lifestyle. But obesity caused by excessive overeating and physical inactivity lends itself well to correction and prevention.

Preventive measures:

• Keep breastfeeding as long as possible;
• Do not force children to finish eating or drink formula milk from a bottle if they have no appetite;
• Do not introduce complementary foods too early;
• Do not use sweeteners in the diet of preschoolers and young children;
• Strictly observe the diet, do not exceed the calorie content of dishes;
• Limit the amount of animal fats and easily digestible carbohydrates in the child's diet, include more vegetable fiber, vegetables and fruits;
• Monitor the dynamics of the weight of children, correct excess weight in time;
• Refuse fast food, sugary carbonated drinks;
• To interest the child in feasible sports, spend more time with him in the fresh air.

It is very unproductive to force children to eat by force, punish and encourage with food, manipulate the child's behavior with favorite and unloved foods and dishes. This style of upbringing can cause a psychological breakdown, lead to the appearance of pathologies of the digestive tract.

Childhood Obesity Treatment

Like any other disease, obesity in children should be treated under the guidance of a specialist, without self-medication. The doctor will assess the consequences inflicted by obesity on the child's body, study the anamnesis, and, if necessary, send it to instrumental and laboratory diagnostics.

The main treatments for obesity:

• Compliance with a diet;
• Dosed physical activity;
• Psychological support;
• Drug therapy for endocrine and neurogenic disorders.

A nutritional specialist in the treatment of childhood obesity will offer the child's parents advice on how to organize meals and fill the diet. These recommendations must be followed by all family members, forming the correct type of eating behavior in the family. Parents' example is the best educational method in obesity treatment.

Children's nutritional rules:

• Eat fractionally - at least 6-7 times a day, in small portions;
• Observe the diet, without deviating from the usual mealtime for more than 15-20 minutes, for the formation of biorhythms of the digestive processes and better digestion of food;
• Use high-calorie foods (eggs, meat, fish) in the morning;
• To include dairy and plant foods in the menu for an afternoon snack or dinner;
• Use more fresh and boiled fruits and vegetables;
• Exclude fatty meats, fish, sausages, sausages, duck, goose from the diet,
• Do not use nuts, bananas, persimmons, figs, raisins, dates in the menu;
• The method of processing products is cooking, stewing, baking, frying is excluded for up to 3 years, and then this method is used as rarely as possible.

Such a serious problem as childhood obesity requires an integrated approach to treatment, the use of a special diet, and adequate preventive measures.

The author of the article: Kuzmina Vera Valerievna | Endocrinologist, nutritionist

Education: Diploma of the Russian State Medical University named after NI Pirogov with a degree in General Medicine (2004). Residency at Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, diploma in Endocrinology (2006).