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Indian Pediatr 2019;56: 78 |
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War Against Childhood Obesity: Traction Towards Family’s
Aspect
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Prateek Srivastav* and KH Vaishali
Department of Physiotherapy, School of Allied Health Sciences,
Manipal Academy of Higher Education,
Manipal,Karnataka, India.
Email: [email protected]
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The prevalence of obesity in children is on steep rise, and strong
relationship exists between childhood obesity and non-communicable
diseases in their adulthood. This rise in obesity intensifies the need
to increase the level of physical activity and healthy eating among
children [1]. The 2016 Indian Report Card discussed best practices among
developed nations and what India can learn from their practice [1,2].
This complex issue should be addressed through multifactorial
intervention involving all stakeholders [1]. These interventions should
be culture-specific, considering socioeconomic status, initiated at
home, and carried out in school.
Researchers have stated the importance of family in
healthy behavior-modelling of the child [3]. As India is a
family-centric country, there is no doubt on its role in the child’s
wellbeing; however, involvement of family has not been evident in the
study interventions conducted in India. Family communication can be
pivotal in increasing physical activity, healthy eating patterns and
decreasing sedentary time [4,5].
The beliefs and Indian culture perceives child’s
weight to be connected with prosperity. Parents do not consider an obese
child to be unhealthy, which possibly leads to reduced family
involvement, thereby decreased motivation of child towards a healthy
lifestyle.
Hence, there is a strong need, to include family
education and participation in childhood obesity interventions. These
interventions should begin with assessing the knowledge and awareness
among family members regarding healthy eating and regular physical
activity. The next step should be education and implementation of these
lifestyle modifications. This will help families to encourage increased
physical activity at home, discourage sedentary time by spending less
time in the digital world. Educating families and stakeholders about
healthy eating pattern will help in cutting down on junk food in home
and school, and increase healthy eating, thereby decreasing the risk of
developing early non-communicable diseases. These lifestyle
modifica-tions can be achieved only when there is intention driven
collaboration among policy makers, teachers and family members, so as to
locally and globally advocate and implement policies to curb obesity.
Therefore, ‘war’ against this national and critical
health issue should be initiated where the family will have to be the
commander of one of the battalions in the war zone. The notion of
collaborative effort should be emphasized to promote healthy lifestyle
in our children, our hope for the future.
References
1. Katapally T, Goenka S, Bhawra J, Mani S,
Krishnaveni G, Kehoe S, et al. Results from India’s 2016 report
card on physical activity for children and youth. J Phys Act Health.
2016;13:S176-S182.
2. Kar S, Kar S. Prevention of childhood obesity in
India: Way forward. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2015;6:12.
3. Sung-Chan P, Sung Y, Zhao X, Brownson R.
Family-based models for childhood-obesity intervention: A systematic
review of randomized controlled trials. Obes Rev. 2012;14:265-78.
4. Skelton J, Buehler C, Irby M, Grzywacz J. Where
are family theories in family-based obesity treatment?: Conceptualizing
the study of families in pediatric weight management. Int J Obes. 2012;36:891-900.
5. Ewald H, Kirby J, Rees K, Robertson W. Parent-only interventions
in the treatment of childhood obesity: A systematic review of randomized
controlled trials. J Public Health. 2014;36:476-89.
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