Importance of Nutritional Requirements for Childhood Obesity

CHILDHOOD OBESITY
Importance of nutritional requirements
Eating a balanced diet is a significant aspect of good
health and wellbeing. It helps in providing essential
energy, vitamins and fats and minerals to the body for
its better functioning. . Dietary pattern helps in
achieving optimal health throughout the life. It helps
in reducing the risk of chronic diseases which
includes cardiovascular attacks and diabetes type 2.
Hence, it is important to take right amount of
nutrition as per the age.
Nutritional requirements at different life stages
As per the age there is requirement to bring change in diet. It can be in
the form of calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals as they initiate
growth. It is divided into three broad stages:
Infants and preschool children: The incorporation of nutritional values
in them includes carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, milk and other
dairy products with protein and good quality of fats as well. In order to
ensure balanced diet, other nutrients includes, Vitamin A, C, iron,
calcium, and zinc. Since, it a growing age, adequate amount of
nutritional intake is necessary which is required to maintain by the
parents and guardian for healthy development (Ogden and et.al, 2012).
School children and teenagers: As it is the age of growth and
development of mind as well. The requirement of nutrients is more and
demands full packed diet as well. Hence their meals must consist of
fibre, vitamin, minerals, and protein.
Adults and elderly adults: As the body of an adult face number of
limitations, it is important to get involved in balanced diet. Hence, the
meals must be high in fibre and calcium. The immunity of the body is
quite low at this stage and hence nutrients are requires to fight back to
the diseases.
Representation of food in media
There is a great impact on food advertisement on the state of fruit preferences in children.
They tend to get attracted towards what is show on the television and choose an unhealthy
food product over the healthy one. Food producing companies are coming up with attractive
advertisements that attract large number of children towards their food products. It has direct
impact o food related knowledge, attitude, preference and practices both in direct and indirect
ways (Abdelkafi and et.al, 2012). Attractive ads act an influential factor to get attracted
towards the product which elevates the problem of obesity. Some of food products towards
which a child gets attracted are, pizza, burger, sandwiches, chips etc. These companies invest
in advertisement.
Factors affecting preferences of
children
There are various factors that have
direct impact on the choice of the
food products as they prefer to
have the following:
· Visual Appearance
·Influence of food habits from
teachers, parents, peers and
programs designed in the schools
and universities.
·Earlier experience with healthy
food turned out to be wrong.
·Taste and preferences of the child.
Relationship between diet and health
There is a complex and direct relationship between diet and health. A certain portion
of food can help in better well being. However, too much food, too little food or no
food can have significant negative impact on the health. It helps in overcoming with
negative environmental consequences which can lead to various diseases to the
person. There is a great role of nutrition in the body which helps the person to stay
health and fight back to the diseases as well. A healthy diet helps in keeping away
the child from obesity. Calorie counting and nutritional balance become important
criteria in such cases. Hence, exclusive diet chart must be followed as per the age.
Relationship between diet and diseases
A healthy diet leads to health mind and body. However, poor or no intake of nutrients can lead to immunity problems in a
child. The intake of vitamins and minerals helps the body to functions in the best possible way. It further fight back to the
bacteria and viruses in the air that can lead to certain diseases in the body of a child. He can get attracted towards heart stroke,
blood pressure, and diabetes type 2 if adequate amount of nutrients is not taken and the child is obese as well.
Food habits and obesity
The major reason of intake of unhealthy food is its taste. The
selection of food made by the children is sensory specific as
the taste has greater impact on the child’s palatability. Another
important factor is diet quality that is what type of food is
consumed by the children. Another important factor is
quantity of food. It is necessary to have portion food as per the
Body Mass Index to avoid obesity. Consumption of food more
than what body can burn has also led to increase in obesity in
children. There are certain weight control food products that
can be used which includes, whole grains, vegetables, fruits
and nuts in comparison to other fatty products such as pizza,
burger and chips. Overeating also have significant impact on
the health of a child and hence to be prevented.
Impact of national and local food policies
The national and local food policies include the criteria of
producing, processing, distributing, and purchasing food
products in the territorial boundaries. The availability of
food has direct impact on what is consumed by the
children. It is important to ensure that the food consumed
is safe and adequate to eat or it may affect the health of the
consumers. A significant impact of trend of food usually
eaten in the state also has direct impact on the eating habits
of a child. It becomes important for the policymakers to
have stringent policies regarding nutritional values in the
food products to promote good health. Barriers on the
import of food which do not fulfil nutritional values will
also help.
Impact of food industry
Presence of munching snacks such as
chips and wafers which are already high
calorie food have become eye catching for
the children. The lifestyle adopted by
parents and then children lead to chronic
health problems. The potential decision of
intake of high fat food paves the way to
obesity for the person. Children prefer to
have junk over other healthy available
options as there are multiple number of
food chains coming up with attractive
advertisements and food which attracts
children. Hence, the quality of intake of
food has degraded leading to obesity as a
common issue among the people of the
country. It further results in low intake of
nutrients such as proteins, minerals,
vitamins, and saturated fats. It may affect
the health of the child in long run.
References: Abdelkafi and et.al., 2012. Risk factors of children overweight and obesity. La Tunisie medicale. 90(5). pp.387-393.
Ogden, C.L. and et.al., 2012. Prevalence of obesity in the United States, 2009-2010 (pp. 1-8). Hyattsville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Health Statistics.
Food for Thought: child nutrition, the school dinner and the food industry. 2010. [Online]. Available through http://www.educationengland.org.uk/articles/22food.html. [Accessed on 28th October 2014]
Daily Requirements & DRI’s. 2012. [Online]. Available through < https://nutr911.wordpress.com/daily-requirements-dris/ >. [Accessed on 28th October 2017]
Television Watching and “Sit Time”. 2017. [Online]. Available through < https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/television-and-sedentary-behavior-and-obesity/ >. [Accessed on
28th October 2017].
Food for Thought: child nutrition, the
school dinner and the food industry. 2010
Daily Requirements & DRI’s. 2012
Television Watching and “Sit Time”. 2017
Implication on policies by government
Government is promoting healthy eating in the country. It has come up with
National child measurement programme whose data shows that there are around
9.6% children who are obese due to unhealthy eating practices. It is also promoting
start active stay active campaign which focuses on indulgence of children in
physical activity in order to promote healthy living and reduction of weight as per
Body Mass Index.. The BMI between 5% to 85% is considered as healthy weight
and pointers below this is unhealthy for the child.
Conclusion and recommendation
It can be concluded that obesity can affect the health of child. It is required that government come up with better policies in
order to control obesity in the country. Further, healthy eating must be promoted among children.