Childhood obesity: Causes you need to know

childhood-obesity (1) A new study on Swedish children, presented in the meeting, the European Congress on Obesity, has revealed that girls with obesity are 43 per cent more likely to develop problems like anxiety or depression compared to their peers in the general population. Whereas, boys with obesity are at 33 per cent risk of getting those problems. Childhood obesity is a concerning medical condition that can make children and adolescents vulnerable to problems that generally affect adults. These can be anything from diabetes to high blood pressure to asthma. There are various risk factors including diet, lack of exercise, genetic factors etc. that can increase your child’s risk of being obese. To help your kid overcome his weight issue, you need to be supportive and extra concerned about his way of living. Based on cause, you can opt for appropriate measures to either prevent or tackle this condition. Therefore, here we tell you about some major causes behind obesity.Portion size Portion size: According WHO, limiting your child’s portion size can help reduce the risk of childhood obesity. This is because you tend to eat more than you need in case the portion size is bigger.ultra-processed foods Eating sugary or ultra-processed foods: Having foods like packed fruit juice, chocolate milk, ketchup, bread, cheese, tofu etc. contain high number of calories with almost no nutritional value. Therefore, they must be avoided.Avocados-1-1 Lack of healthy fats: Consuming foods containing healthy fats is linked to lower risk of developing obesity. This is because, these foods including avocado, yogurt, coconut oil etc. are complex foods that provide many important nutrients like processed and sweetened ones.Sedentary lifestyle Sedentary lifestyle: Obesity does not occur overnight. It is a gradual process. Due to a sedentary lifestyle, an energy imbalance is created in your body. The calories you consume are not able to burn. This results in accumulation of a lot of calories leading to obesity.symptoms-of-kids-in-stress Stress: Separation from parents during childhood creates anxiety and stress in children. These feelings drive children to eat more for comfort which leads to weight gain.Hormonal-Imbalance Hormonal imbalance: Changes in digestive hormones can affect the signals that inform you that you are full. This can lead to overeating and hence obesity.