Obesogenic Lifestyle and Its Influence on Adiposity in Children and Adolescents, Evidence from Mexico.

Desiree Lopez-Gonzalez,Marcela Ortiz-Obregon,Armando Partida-Gaytán,Fatima Avila-Rosano,Patricia Clark,Laura Diaz-Escobar,Pamela Reyes-Delpech,Jonathan C Wells,Frida Gomez-Mendoza

doi:10.3390/nu12030819

Abstract

Overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) during childhood/adolescence are major public health problems in Mexico. Several obesogenic lifestyle (OL) risk factors have been identified, but the burden and consequences of them in Mexican children/adolescents remain unclear. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of OL components and describe their relationships with adiposity, and OW/OB. A population-based cross-sectional study of Mexican children/adolescents with nutritional assessment, data collection on daily habits and adiposity as fat-mass index (FMI) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was performed. Individual OL-components: “inactivity,” “excessive screen time,” “insufficient sleep,” “unhealthy-diet”, were defined according to non-adherence to previously published healthy recommendations. Results: 1449 subjects were assessed between March 2015 to April 2018. Sixteen percent of subjects had all four OL-components, 40% had three, 35% had two, 9% had one, and 0.5% had none. A cumulative OL score showed a significant dose–response effect with FMI. The combination of inactivity, excessive screen time, and insufficient sleep showed the highest risk association to OW/OB and higher values of FMI. Conclusions: The prevalence of OL-components was extremely high and associated with increased adiposity and OW/OB. Several interventions are needed to revert this major public health threat.

Highlights

Considerable increases in the prevalence of overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) in children and adolescents have occurred in many developed and emergent countries
Age-specific portions are adjusted for recommended age-specific daily calories intake recommendations, according to AAP [23] We assessed diet quality according to the American Heart Association (AHA) Diet Score because we find these recommendations reliable, simple to do, easy to teach to families, and allow for comparisons of the different components of the diet
We found the highest risk association for OW/OB in those subjects who reported inactivity, excessive screen time, and insufficient sleep with an OR of 4.7

Summary

Introduction

Considerable increases in the prevalence of overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) in children and adolescents have occurred in many developed and emergent countries. Lifestyle behaviors that are developed during this period have the potential to affect future adult health [2]. Several lifestyle habits have been reported to contribute to the worldwide health problem of OW/OB, including: inactivity, insufficient sleep, unhealthy diet, excessive time spent watching video-games and TV rather than engaging in conventional recreational activities, and increased availability of, and growing preferences for, high-energy density foods. Such a combination of behaviors reflects exposure to an obesogenic lifestyle (OL) [3].

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Conclusion