Effectiveness of a Diet and Physical Activity Promotion Strategy on The Prevention of Obesity

Hi everyone here the last blog that I will post related to our topics about obesity for young children. This time I will share you about the research that have been done in State of Mexico. 

Research indicates that obesity is the global epidemic of the 21^st century, especially due to its prevalent growth and health implications. In Mexico, the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased by 9%, from 61% to 70% from 1999 to 2006. The whole population, including both adults and school children, showed an increase in the number of overweight individual, making it one of the countries with the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity population. There are a few projects that are underway in Mexico, to help curb the growth of the sombre public health predicament. A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a diet and physical activity strategy among school age children in the State of Mexico, referred to as “Nutrition on the Go” to maintain BMI, as a basis for establishing public health policy (Levy, et, al, 2012).

The method used involved a randomized field trial using fifth grade elementary school children in 60 Mexican schools. Subjects were participants of a school breakfast program in both federal and state educational systems with morning and evening shifts. The strategy involved: a gradual decrease of the energy content of school breakfasts; gradual regulation of food offered within the school; gradual adherence to the physical activity program; and implementation of an educational campaign, called “Healthy Break,” for healthy eating and physical activity. The objectives of this program were to promote consuming one fruit and one vegetable, drinking pure water and performing physical activity (organized games and calisthenics) during break. A baseline test was conducted in all schools to establish the initial characteristics of intervention and control groups. Information was also obtained related to anthropometrics, socioeconomic level, food, physical activity, self-efficacy and knowledge. The same information was obtained for the final evaluation (Levy, et, al, 2012).

The variables measured included: body composition, whereby the body mass index was determined by measuring both weigh and weight; and behaviour outcomes by examining food intake, physical activity, knowledge, self-efficacy and expectations, using questionnaires. The main finding of the study was that the strategy “Nutrition on the Go” had a small but statistically significant effect on reducing the probability of shifting from the overweight to the obesity category after 6 months of intervention. The study indicated that interventions are most effective for females when they include social aspects and for males when they involve physical activity. Moreover, self-efficacy and children’s perception about their own ability to perform physical activity and healthy eating is now considered to be more related to changes in behaviour related to obesity risk factors (Levy, et, al, 2012).

One of the limitations of the study was that it was conducted only in the school environment, where children are present for 4.5 half hours, so larger effects could not be expected since children spent the rest of the day in obesigenic environments. Another limitation was the duration of the intervention, which lasted only 6 months; a longer intervention is needed in order to observe the impacts. Nonetheless, previous reports show that intervention lengths for some studies ranged from 9 weeks to 3 years and that intervention of all durations successfully reduced obesity among overweight or obese children (Levy, et, al, 2012).

The study indicated that the “Nutrition on the Go” strategy was effective for maintaining the BMI of school children. The authors suggest that policies for interventions to prevent obesity in schools in Mexico should consider changes within the school environment itself through actions such as improving physical education classes and creating more aggressive nutrition policies. For greater impact, the inclusion of parents and teachers is recommended, as well as government officials, communities and civil society as elements in healthy lifestyles as well as the development and welfare of society (Levy, et, al, 2012).

Reference List

Levy, T., Carmen M., Claudia A., Araceli S., Alejandra J. and Ignacio M. (2012). Effectiveness of a diet and physical activity promotion strategy on the prevention of obesity in Mexican school children, BMC Public Health, 12(152), doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-152. <http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/152>

Physical Activity vs Eating Healthy Diet

In my last blog, I share that  obesity in children is mainly caused by unhealthy eating habits, and inadequate physical activity. Because these eating patterns begin in early childhood, attempts to reduce overweight among children must start early. The essential and effective approach for preventing obesity or overweight in children is through practicing healthy eating diet (Macé & Shahkhalili, 2010).

Eating behaviors as well as physical activity among children are guides which are established in childhood, but some studies consider that physical activities may not be effective enough to reduce obesity. Selections of children’s foods are influenced by what parents provide them and healthy foods give nutrition for developing bodies while modeling safe eating habits and ways.

Diet with minimal or standard amount of fats and provision of high simple carbohydrates has been reported to be simply as valuable in generating a small weight loss as an equivalent diet having high input of complex carbohydrates. Nevertheless, some analyzes propose that sugar and drinks apply a weaker impact on satiety and can contribute a lot in promoting the rate of obesity among children. Some other issues are whole grain and dietary fiber element of the diet, this is vegetables and fruits. Furthermore, raising amount of dietary protein from 12 to 20% of sum energy can provide an extra approach to reducing fat and adequate carbohydrate diets, and have the possibility to improve satiety (Debruyne, Pinna, & Noss, 2011, p.279). In contrary, Professionals consider that children are planned to be sedentary or sporty and forcing them into physical activities can have minimal impact on whether the child is obese or not (Mela, 2005, p.35). The research reported that although lower than half of boys and one in seven girls do the suggested length of exercise daily and this is not reflected in their physical appearance.

Availability of food, family practices, and social norms at schools and child care services help in controlling the eating behaviours of children. They may influence kids from taking a healthy diet or make sure those children with excessive contact to unwholesome foods, which possess more calories, have knowledge about its hazards. Furthermore, studies report that parents practicing healthy eating habits would make their children follow the same. Therefore, practicing better eating behaviors in children and making sure that they retain these practices for a longer time would help in reducing the possibility of obesity.

Providing a healthy diet is the keystone of most favorable development and growth for babies and teens. A healthy diet permits children to carry on with their education successfully. Eating wide range of meals during early age is probably to set up food preferences which will remain into old age. The food favorites of several people at old age are likely to resemble the foods which they mostly consumed during their early age. For instance, kids who consume huge amount of energy dense foods are probably to become obese, particularly if they are inactive.

The study involving around 400 six years old kids in California reported that the quantity of exercise children perform is not connected with their Body Mass Index (Wing, 2009). Children who perform enough exercises were in a good health when they evaluated the fat contents in their blood and blood pressure; however the quantity of exercise they perform did not affect the fat level. In early age, physical activity is linked with a continuous development in metabolic health but not with an adjustment in obesity or BMI. From above discussion, we can conclude that eating good diet is more effective than forcing children to do exercises. Despite this opposition, children should be encouraged to do more exercises to enhance their better health.

References

Debruyne, L., Pinna, K., & Noss, E. (2011). Nutrition & Diet Therapy. Florence, KY: Cengage Learning.

Jay, P. (2011). Obesity on Children. Journal of Economic Perspectives , 25(2): 140–159.

Macé, K., & Shahkhalili, C. (2010). Dietary fat and fat types as early determinants of childhood obesity: a reappraisal. Int J Obes (Lond) , 34(7): 12-30.

Mela, D. (2005). Food, diet and obesity. New York: CRC Press.

Wing, K. (2009). Healthy Diet in Children. Journal of Cunsulting and Clinical Psychology, 32(3): 2-34.

Battle Over Children's Obesity

In the previous blog I talk a bit about children's obesity and how physical activity would help to prevent children's obesity. Losing weight has become a practice in vogue due to the constant advertisements on televisions and magazines. Most people are tempted to lose weight in easy ways including parents that have children have weight problems, often ignoring the side effects and compromising their health.  Several pills are available today in the market, which promise to shed off excess weight without the gruesome hours of exercise. People, enticed by such allurements, are becoming victims to the glamour of losing weights without knowing the dangers of consuming the magic pills. “Research suggests that increasing the amount of exercise you do is an effective way to lose weight, and the results are even better when combined with changes to your diet” (Treating Obesity, 2010). Skinny pills are not the best or effective way to control weight as these pills have several side effects and, therefore, one must engage in physical activities to lose weight and to have a healthy lifestyle.

There are many advertisements out there to make people believe that Skinny pill is the fastest and most effective way to shed off the extra pounds.  One such advertisement is PediaLean. It claims that “a revolutionary, all-natural weight-control compound offers new hope. It’s called PediaLean™: (What is PediaLean? 2002).  These all natural weight controls are nothing natural and have many side effects. Many of the side effects include “altered heart rhythms, heart failure, bone thinning or osteoporosis, changes to periods and fertility, high blood pressure, mood changes itching, hair loss and muscle weakness” (Weighing up the Risks of Diet Pills, 2011). Besides, evidences in some studies indicate that “obese patients, who are already at high risk of heart disease, had a 16% increased risk of cardiovascular problems such as heart attack and stroke when using sibutramine compared to patients taking dummy pills” (Weighing Up the Risks of Diet Pills, 2011). Thus, it transpires that there is no short cut to lose weight and the best way is by exercise and choose healthy lifestyle.

Many children are also forced to think that weight loss can be easily achieved by consuming pills. They should, instead, be encouraged to engage in physical activities. A lot of stress has been put on children to maintain a slim body. The website of PediaLean also claims that “along with a healthy, but not calorie-restricted diet and modest exercise lost an incredible 20% of their excess body weight” (What is PediaLean? 2002). It also claims that it is “clinically proven, safe, and effective weight-control compound designed for children and adolescents” (What is PediaLean? 2002).  But, in reality these pills are not safe and should not be consumed by children. It is a proven fact that if diet pills contain  “stimulants and sympathomimetics, their effects on heart rate and systemic vascular resistance can increase myocardial oxygen consumption to the point where an imbalance occurs between the supply-and-demand ratios, resulting in myocardial ischemia (Gibbs)” (Adolescent Dieting: Psychologic and Physiologic Effects, n.d.). This clearly demonstrates that taking diet pills is not the best means to lose weight as it has much negative impact on the human body.

The website of also claims that “The active ingredient in PediaLean™ is Pediatropin,™ an all-natural, micronized fiber concentrate derived from a plant (tuber) called P. rivieri” (What is PediaLean? 2002). Claims such as all-natural, micronized fiber concentrate derived from a plant (tuber) called P. rivieri (What is PediaLean? 2002) are misleading and it should not be used to supplement the daily exercises needed by children to lose weight. According to the Canada’s Physical Activity Guide for Children and Canada’s Physical Guide for Youth, “children and youth are advised to accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity daily” (Canada Physical Activity Guidelines, 2011), and “limiting recreational screen time no more than 2 hours per day” (Canada Sedentary Behavior Guidelines, 2011).  Physical activities play a crucial role in the heath and overall development of a person.

One of the most interesting claim made by PediaLean is that “In a well-controlled double-blind clinical trial, each and every child who used PediaLean™ as directed lost a significant amount of excess body weight... a success rate of 100%!” (What is PediaLean? 2002).  These kind of ideas will mislead parents to treat their children, because there is no such instant way to lose weight, but parents need to encourage their children for physically active and have healthy lifestyle.

Reference List

Adolescent Dieting: Psychologic and Physiologic Effects, (n.d.). MEDCEU. Retrieved from http://www.medceu.com/index/index.php?page=get_course&courseID=2597&nocheck

Canadian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Guidelines, (2011). Retrieved from

           http://www.csep.ca/guidelines

Obesity: Treating Obesity, (2010). Directgov. NHS. Retrieved from http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Obesity/Pages/Treatment.aspx

What is PediaLean? (2002). Biolifedynamics.com. Retrieved from http://www.biolifedynamics.com/children_weight_loss.html

Weighing Up the Risks of Diet Pills, (2011). NHS Local. Retrieved from http://nhslocal.nhs.uk/story/lifestyle/weighing-risks-diet-pills

"Physical Activity Improves Health in Body and Mind For Young Children"

Hi everyone welcome to my blog post, my name is Julia Laksmana and I am fourth year communication student in SFU. My passion is in the media and entertainment field, I have quite lot experience in that area such as became gospel singer manager for couple months last year during my term off in Indonesia, be part of talk-show taping in the one of TV station in Indonesia and after graduate I will go back to Indonesia, and start my business in that area as well. In leisure time I love to read book and take photograph.


In this blog I want to talk about the importance of physical activity for young children. Today children prefer inactive way to spend time such as playing online games with computer or game console. Such way for spending time contains the numerous risks of developing diseases. Despite of understanding an obvious benefit of physical activity, parents often don't aware about how important including physical activities for young children.
I create this blog to emphasize the importance of physical activity for young children. It is difficult to overestimate the benefits that a physical activity provides such as more energy, good memory, self-confidence and so on. A lack of the physical exercises leads to the various problems with body and mind. 

My blog can be useful for parents so they can raise awareness about how important physical activity for young children. Parents have to show and teach children how to enjoy the exercises and different outdoor activities to show how healthy and it the same time how fun it can be. And also school board for including quality physical education.


Doing this blog I want to find more ways so the outdoor games can be a very interesting way to spend time. And how to increase quality physical education.