Abstract
In recent decades, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has become increasingly common such that it is now the major nutritional problem worldwide. Obesity occurs when dietary energy intake exceeds energy expenditure and has arisen in many societies due to an increasingly “obesogenic” environment in which physical activity has declined and yet children continue to be exposed to unhealthy, energy-dense diets. Additional risks for the development of obesity also include psychological issues and genetic factors. Obesity has many adverse health consequences including development of insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome. There are also important genetic influences on the likelihood of developing insulin resistance. Given the limited success of therapeutic interventions to treat obesity and the metabolic syndrome, there has been an increased interest in preventative strategies. These are likely to be most successful when targeting the young and will require a combination of approaches which will need inter-disciplinary collaborations across health and local government to target families, schools, and local environments to facilitate behavior changes which influence young people's eating behaviors and habitual levels of physical activity.
Highlights
Prevention of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in ChildrenDivision of Population Medicine, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Overweight and obesity are significant risk factors for developing the metabolic syndrome and have in recent years, become the major world-wide nutritional challenge [1], affecting both children [2], and adults in countries with both high and low incomes
The rapid increase in obesity rates worldwide has been caused by the combination of less active lifestyles and a failure to reduce energy intake in line with reduced total energy expenditure arising from reduced physical activity
Summary
Division of Population Medicine, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom. Edited by: Francesco Chiarelli, Università degli Studi G. d’Annunzio Chieti e Pescara, Italy. Specialty section: This article was submitted to Pediatric Endocrinology, a section of the journal
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