Factors Related to Childhood Obesity Flashcards
Define childhood obesity
a medical condition that affects children and teenagers
define healthy weight trajectory
height and weight change proportionally together as children develop
2 conditions for risk factors to be considered a ‘cause’
- any factor related to childhood obesity epidemic must be shown (through EE, EI or both) to promote weight gain in childhood
- must have increased before or during the recent childhood obesity epidemic
4 main factors strongly associated with etiology of obesity in children
- reduced sleep
- sugar sweetened beverages
- increased sedentary behaviour
- secular increases in adult obesity
potential mechanisims: reduced sleep
- increased ghrelin levels- results in increased hunger, increased EI/ability to store fat at the expense of LBM
- Increased cortisol levels and decreased leptin- both result in increased EI
- More awake time= more time to consume food or be sedentary
potential mechanisims: Sugar sweetened beverage
SSB: defined as any beverage with added sugar (natural orange jiuce does not count)
1. increased SSB related with increased weight gain- likely due to increased EI (energy dense liquid calories with little impact on satiety). Causes insulin spike & lipogenesis, reduced EE and inhibition of satiety signals
potential mechanisims: Increased Sedentary behaviour
- kids have been conditioned to eat while watching TV
- TV adverts unhealthy foods trigger the hunger response, prompting to eat
- TV may replace time otherwise spent moving around and PA
- Possible uncoupling of EI & EE
potential mechanisims: Secular increases in adult obesity
-father with obesity=2.5x risk
-mother with obesity=4x risk
-both parents with obesity= 10x risk
- genetics & epigenetics (structural vs functional hardware)
- shared/modelled behaviour
- intrauterine environment and pre-natal nutrition
How does pre-natal nutrition & interuterine environment impact child obesity? (3)
- A higher body weight/level of fatness or having T2D can have negative effects on fetus (& health of mother)
- the interuterine environment of a mother who gains too much weight is altered and may result in epigenetic DNA (mother over eats= child has less sensitive signals to excess nutrient supply)
- can lead to permanent (physiological) changes (appetite, endocrine functioning/energy metabolism)
consequences of obesity on pregnancy (3)
- risk of childhood obesity increased (30-40%) with women already obese or gain excessive weight while pregnant
- Larger infants more likely than healthy babies become overweight as children (&cycle continues)
- Higher BMI coming into pregnancy means increase chance of child to develop obesity & increased chance for gestational diabetes (more likely to develop T2D after pregnancy too)
how much should a pregnant women eat
Don’t think about it as ‘eating for 2’ think about it as ‘eating for 1.1’
Relationship between physical activity in kids and weight gain
-relationship is less than clear because of difficulties in measuring PA accurately.
Relationship between energy intake & weight gain
-Also unclear because it is difficult to track trends in total energy intake over time
children at risk of becoming overweight/obese include… (13)
-genetic disease/syndrome
-consume food/drinks with high sugar
-consume refined grain products on regularly
-limited veggie intake
-not PA
-watch a lot of TV/activities that dont burn calories
-in an environment where healthy eating and PA are not encouraged
-eat to deal with social problems
-come from a family that is overweight (genetics) plus poor environment
-low income family
-exposed to aggressive marketing
-lack of education about good nutrition
-lack of access to healthy foods
4 factors with strong evidence to help change child obesity
- promote healthy behaviours
- focus on all kids, not just ones that are classified as overweight/obese
- focus on practicing healthy behaviours instead of weight
- contact GP or obesity specialist
