Abstract
Childhood obesity is increasing dramatically in many Southeast Asian countries, and becoming a significant public health concern. This review summarizes the evidence on associations between parental feeding practices, child eating behaviors, and the risk of overweight and obesity in Southeast Asian children 2–12 years old. We systematically searched five electronic academic/research (PubMed, PsycINFO, ProQuest Nursing, Medline, and CINAHL) databases using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement for peer-reviewed studies published in English between January 2000 and December 2016. Fourteen observational studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Reviewed studies were examined separately for preschool- and school-aged children and revealed that non-responsive parental feeding practices and unhealthy child eating behaviors were associated with a risk of child overweight and obesity in several Southeast Asian countries. Nonetheless, due to the small number of identified studies (n = 14) and because only about half of the Southeast Asian countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia) were represented (5/11) in the examined studies, additional research is needed to further understand the factors associated with childhood obesity among children in Southeast Asia to develop interventions that are tailored to the specific needs of Southeast Asian countries and designed to address practices and behaviors that may promote childhood obesity.
Highlights
Overweight and obesity are significant global public health problems in many low- and middle-income countries [1,2]
Eight studies included in this review examined associations between a number of non-responsive parental feeding practices and/or unhealthy child eating habits and the risk of child overweight and obesity in school-age children (6–12 years old) [31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38]
Mirroring a growing body of research documenting the associations between non-responsive parental feeding practices and increased risk of child overweight and obesity [9,10], findings from four studies [27,32,34,35] included in this review suggest that non-responsive parental feeding practices such as control of a child’s food consumption [32] and restriction of food intake [35] are positively associated with the risk of child overweight and obesity
Summary
Overweight and obesity are significant global public health problems in many low- and middle-income countries [1,2]. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased in children in low- and middle-income countries, from 8.1% in 1980 to 12.9% in 2013 for boys and from 8.4% to 13.4%. This increase may be due to the children in these countries being exposed to obesogenic environments that foster excessive consumption of unhealthy foods, hinder physical activity and promote sedentary behaviors, which increase children’s risk of energy imbalance, excessive weight gain, and obesity [4,5]. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 436; doi:10.3390/ijerph14040436 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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