Childhood Obesity
- Dr.P.Praveen Raj
- Dec 26,2022
- 04:00 pm
14 MILLION AND COUNTING…..
What significance does this number carry?
It is the current number of children in India who are either overweight or obese!
Obesity among children remains a silent epidemic in our country, and failing to recognise and act could lead to disastrous consequences in the future.
Let me explain….
Obesity in childhood could lead to diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiac diseases, sleep apnoea, and the list goes on…….
Our general perception is chubby kids are healthy as compared to kids who are lean. In reality, both ends of the spectrum are unhealthy. The Centre of Disease Control in India has published tables for determining obesity in children. For children and adolescents (age 2–18 y), the BMI value is plotted on the CDC growth charts to determine the corresponding BMI-for-age percentile. Overweight is defined as a BMI at or above the 85th percentile and lower than the 95th percentile. Obesity is defined as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile
Kids are subjected to a lot of discrimination in school. Bullied, teased, even beaten up…. Can u imagine what this will do to the psyche of the poor child?!
We as parents need to be aware that childhood obesity is a very real problem for our children and have to address it IMMEDIATELY… Why?
Our children deserve the best of what life has to offer, what more is better than a healthy life as they grow up to shape the future.