Potential contributors to the canadian pediatric obesity epidemic

Factors associated with childhood overweight and obesity in Uganda: a national survey

Background

Childhood obesity is an emerging public health problem globally. Although previously a problem of high-income countries, overweight and obesity is on the rise in low- and middle-income countries. This paper explores the factors associated with childhood obesity and overweight in Uganda using data from the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) of 2016.

Methods

We used Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) 2016 data of 4338 children less than 5 years. Multistage stratified sampling was used to select study participants and data were collected using validated questionnaires. Overweight and obesity were combined as the primary outcome. Children whose BMI z score was over two were considered as overweight while those with a BMI z score greater than three were considered as obese. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine factors associated with obesity and overweight among children under 5 years of age in Uganda.

Results

The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 5.0% (217/4338) (95% CI: 4.3–5.6), with overweight at 3.9% (168/4338: 95% CI: 3.2–4.3) and obesity at 1.1% (49/4338: 95% CI: 0.8–1.5). Mother’s nutritional status, sex of the child, and child’s age were associated with childhood obesity and overweight. Boys were more likely to be overweight or obese (aOR = 1.81; 95% CI 1.24 to 2.64) compared to girls. Children who were younger (36 months and below) and those with mothers who were overweight or obese were more likely to have obesity or overweight compared to those aged 49–59 months and those with underweight mothers respectively. Children from the western region were more likely to be overweight or obese compared to those that were from the North.

Conclusion

The present study showed male sex, older age of the children, nutritional status of the mothers and region of residence were associated with obesity and overweight among children under 5 years of age.

Excessive Gestational Weight Gain: Long-Term Consequences for the Child

Background: The aim of the study was to analyse the impact of mothers’ gestational weight gain (GWG) and age at birth on the long-term risk of overweight and obesity in preschool and school-aged children. Methods: The study involved 749 mothers and children at ages between four and 15 years old. Each child was assessed for height and body weight, and then, the body mass category was determined based on the body mass index (BMI) percentile according to the sex and age of the subjects. Information on the perinatal risk factors for overweight and obesity came from the child’s health card or mother’s maternity card. They contained information about the mother’s age at the time of childbirth and the mother’s gestational weight gain during pregnancy. Results: In the group of 7–11-year-olds, the maternal weight gain during pregnancy was higher in obese children than in children with normal weight (18.8 kg vs. 14.3 kg; p = 0.002). This relationship was shown analogously in the group of 7–11-years-olds boys (20.6 kg vs. 15.1 kg; p = 0.005). Positive correlations were also shown between mother’s gestational weight gain and the BMI percentage of the whole group (p = 0.004). In the case of the mother’s age, no statistically significant relationship was found with the child’s weight category. Conclusions: Mothers’ weight gain during pregnancy is a factor that promotes overweightness and obesity in the child. Maternal age at birth does not appear to lead to any propensity toward overweightness and obesity in the later life of a child.

Interaction between delivery mode and maternal age in predicting overweight and obesity in 1,123 Chinese preschool children

Background

Pediatric overweight/obesity has escalated to epidemic proportions worldwide. In this study, we aimed to assess the association of delivery mode and maternal age, both individually and interactively, with the risk of being overweight or obese among Chinese preschool children.

Methods

We cross-sectionally recruited 1,123 preschool children from five kindergartens in Beijing. Data were collected by a pre-validated self-developed questionnaire. Overweight and obesity are defined according to the World Health Organization (WHO), International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), and China criteria, respectively.

Results

Cesarean delivery was significantly associated with pediatric overweight/obesity under the WHO [adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.60, 1.12-2.29], IOTF (1.77, 1.23-2.53), and China (1.43, 1.06-1.94) criteria, respectively. Maternal age <28 years reached statistical significance under both WHO (1.69, 1.09-2.61) and IOTF (1.69, 1.09-2.61) criteria in predicting pediatric overweight/obesity. The interaction between cesarean delivery and maternal age <28 years was remarkably significant under the WHO (2.26, 1.10-4.67), IOTF (2.92, 1.43-5.96), and China (2.36, 1.24-4.50) criteria.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that the interaction between cesarean delivery and maternal age <28 years can remarkably increase the risk of overweight/obesity among Chinese preschool children.

Chemical and non-chemical stressors affecting childhood obesity: a systematic scoping review

Childhood obesity in the United States has doubled over the last three decades and currently affects 17% of children and adolescents. While much research has focused on individual behaviors impacting obesity, little research has emphasized the complex interactions of numerous chemical and non-chemical stressors found in a child's environment and how these interactions affect a child's health and well-being. The objectives of this systematic scoping review were to (1) identify potential chemical stressors in the context of non-chemical stressors that impact childhood obesity; and, (2) summarize our observations for chemical and non-chemical stressors in regards to child-specific environments within a community setting. A review was conducted to identify chemical and non-chemical stressors related to childhood obesity for the childhood life stages ranging from prenatal to adolescence. Stressors were identified and grouped into domains: individual behaviors, family/household behaviors, community stressors, and chemical exposures. Stressors were related to the child and the child's everyday environments and used to characterize child health and well-being. This review suggests that the interactions of chemical and non-chemical stressors are important for understanding a child's overall health and well-being. By considering these relationships, the exposure science research community can better design and implement strategies to reduce childhood obesity.

Exercise portrayal in children's television programs: analysis of the UK and Irish programming

BACKGROUND

Television watching is obesogenic due to its sedentary nature and programming content, which influences children. Few studies have examined exercise placement within children-specific programming. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and type of exercise placement in children-specific television broadcasts and to compare placements on the UK and Irish television channels.

METHODS

Content analysis for five weekdays' worth of children-specific television broadcasting totaling 82.5 hours on both the UK (British Broadcasting Corporation) and Irish (Radió Teilifís Éireann) television channels was performed. For the purposes of comparing the UK and Irish placements, analysis was restricted to programming broadcast between 6 am and 11.30 am. Exercise placements were coded based on type of activity, activity context, activity motivating factors and outcome, and characters involved.

RESULTS

A total of 780 cues were recorded during the total recording period. A wide variety of sports were depicted, but dancing-related cues were most commonly seen (n=163, 23.3%), with the majority of cues being of mild (n=365, 65.9%) or moderate (n=172, 31.0%) intensity. The majority of cues were associated with a positive outcome (n=404, 61.4%), and social motivations were most commonly seen (n=289, 30.3%). The Irish and the UK portrayals were broadly similar.

CONCLUSION

This study highlights the wide variety of sports portrayed and the active effort undertaken by television stations to depict physical exercise and recreation in a positive light.

Prevalence and differentials of overweight and obesity in preschool children in Sub-Saharan Africa

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence and differentials of overweight/obesity (body mass index (BMI)-for-age z-score >2) in preschool children in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

The study was conducted on the basis of the data of 26 Demographic and Health Surveys carried out in SSA since 2010.

PARTICIPANTS

The records of 155,726 children aged 0-59 months were included in the analysis.

PRIMARY OUTCOME

Overweight/obesity.

RESULTS

The prevalence of overweight/obesity was 6.8% (95% CI 6.7% to 6.9%). Among the countries represented, higher figures were reported in Sierra Leone (16.9%), Comoros (15.9%) and Malawi (14.5%), whereas lower prevalence was found in Ethiopia (3.0%), Togo (2.6) and Senegal (2.0%). In 11 of the countries, overweight/obesity was more prevalent than wasting. It is estimated that in the whole subcontinent, 10.7 million children were affected by the problem. The prevalence of overweight/obesity was slightly higher in boys than in girls. Overweight/obesity was three times more frequent in stunted children than in normal children. The risk also significantly increased with increasing maternal BMI and birth weight and decreased with increasing maternal age, maternal education, child's age and number of siblings. On the other hand, no significant association was observed with national gross domestic product per capita, place of residence (urban-rural) and household wealth index.

CONCLUSION

Childhood overweight/obesity has become a sizeable problem in the subcontinent.

Food and beverage cues in children’s television programmes: the influence of programme genre

Objective

The link between childhood obesity and both television viewing and television advertising have previously been examined. We sought to investigate the frequency and type of food and beverage placements in children-specific television broadcasts and, in particular, differences between programme genres.

Method

Content of five weekdays of children-specific television broadcasting on both UK (BBC) and Irish (RTE) television channels was summarized. Food and beverage placements were coded based on type of product, product placement, product use and characters involved. A comparison was made between different programme genres: animated, cartoon, child-specific, film, quiz, tween and young persons’ programming.

Results

A total of 1155 (BBC=450; RTE=705) cues were recorded giving a cue every 4·2 min, an average of 12·3 s/cue. The genre with most cues recorded was cartoon programming (30·8 %). For the majority of genres, cues related to sweet snacks (range 1·8–23·3 %) and sweets/candy (range 3·6–25·8 %) featured highly. Fast-food (18·0 %) and sugar-sweetened beverage (42·3 %) cues were observed in a high proportion of tween programming. Celebratory/social motivation factors (range 10–40 %) were most common across all genres while there were low proportions of cues based on reward, punishment or health-related motivating factors.

Conclusions

The study provides evidence for the prominence of energy-dense/nutrient-poor foods and beverages in children’s programming. Of particular interest is the high prevalence of fast-food and sugar-sweetened beverage cues associated with tween programming. These results further emphasize the need for programme makers to provide a healthier image of foods and beverages in children’s television.

Sedentary behaviour as an emerging risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases in children and youth

Sedentary behaviour (e.g. TV viewing, seated video game playing, prolonged sitting) has recently emerged as a distinct risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases in children and youth. This narrative review provides an overview of recent evidence in this area and highlights research gaps. Current evidence suggests that North American children and youth spend between 40% and 60% of their waking hours engaging in sedentary pursuits. Although data are lacking concerning temporal trends of objectively measured sedentary time, self-reported sedentary behaviours have increased over the past half century, with a rapid increase since the late 1990s. Excessive sedentary behaviour has been found to have independent and deleterious associations with markers of adiposity and cardiometabolic disease risk. These associations are especially consistent for screen-based sedentary behaviours (TV viewing, computer games, etc), with more conflicting findings observed for overall sedentary time. The above associations are possibly mediated by the influence of screen-based sedentary behaviours on energy intake. Although excessive sitting has been reported to have adverse acute and chronic metabolic impacts in adults, research on children is lacking. Research is particularly needed to investigate the impact of characteristics of sedentary behaviour (i.e. type/context, sedentary bout length, breaks in sedentary time, etc), as well as interventions that examine the health and behavioural impacts of sitting per se.

Food and beverage advertising during children's television programming

BACKGROUND

Increasing prevalence of overweight and obese children in developed countries poses a substantial threat to long-term health. One well-described factor is the amount of time spent watching television, with exposure to food advertising a known influence on food preferences and consumption patterns.

AIMS

Following recent formulation of new rules regarding advertising of food during children's programming, we sought to examine the advertising content in children-specific television broadcasts on Irish television.

METHODS

Advertisement content analysis for 5 weekdays of children-specific television broadcasting from 0700 to 1700 hours on Irish television was performed. Data were coded and transferred to SPSS for analyses. Food and beverage advertisements were coded based on type of product, nutritional content, intended age group and outcome.

RESULTS

322 advertisements were broadcast during the recording period. 31 % (n = 101) of advertisements related to food or beverage products with 66.3 % (n = 68) of food advertisements being for foods that should be eaten in moderation. The most frequently recorded food advertisement was for fast food products (27.3 %, n = 24), followed by sweets/candy (21.6 %, n = 19) and dairy products (17.0 %, n = 15). The most frequently recorded beverage advertisement was for natural orange juices (46.2 %, n = 6). 54.7 % (n = 176) of advertisements were adult specific with 27.3 % (n = 88) being children specific. All food and beverage advertisements were associated with a positive outcome (n = 322).

CONCLUSIONS

These results demonstrate that food and beverages depicted in advertisements during children's programming are predominantly unhealthy foods with high salt and sugar contents. The findings from this study again highlight the ongoing need for new rules regarding food advertising in children's programming.

Children and youth do not compensate for an imposed bout of prolonged sitting by reducing subsequent food intake or increasing physical activity levels: a randomised cross-over study

The behavioural impact of an imposed bout of prolonged sitting is yet to be investigated in the paediatric population. The objective of the present study was to determine the acute effect of prolonged sitting onad libitumfood intake and spontaneous physical activity (PA) levels in healthy children and youth. A total of twenty healthy youth (twelve males and eight females) aged 10–14 years, with a mean BMI of 18·6 (sd4·3) kg/m2, were exposed to three experimental conditions in a random order: (1) a day of uninterrupted sitting (Sedentary); (2) a day of sitting interrupted with a 2 min light-intensity walk break every 20 min (Breaks); (3) a day of sitting interrupted with a 2 min light-intensity walk break every 20 min as well as 2 × 20 min of moderate-intensity PA (Breaks+PA). Food intake (ad libitumbuffet meal) and PA (accelerometry for 24 h) were assessed following exposure to each experimental condition. Despite significant differences in sedentary behaviour and activity levels during the three in-laboratory sessions (allP< 0·01), we did not observe any differences inad libitumfood intake immediately following exposure to each experimental condition or any changes in the levels of sedentary behaviour or PA in the 24 h following exposure to each experimental condition (allP>0·25). These findings suggest that children and youth may not compensate for an imposed bout of sedentary behaviour by reducing subsequent food intake or increasing PA levels.