Increasing rates of adolescent obesity and the likelihood that obesity will carry forward into adulthood, have led to various preventive initiatives. It has been suggested that family meals, which tend to include fruits, vegetable...
Overweight and obesity are
defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to
health. A crude population measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), a
person’s weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his or her height (in
metres). A person with a BMI of 30 or more is generally considered obese. A
person with a BMI equal to or more than 25 is considered overweight.
BMI is not used to definitively diagnose obesity – as people who are very muscular sometimes have a high BMI,
without excess fat – but for most people, it can be a useful
indication of whether they may be overweight.
A better measure of excess fat is
waist circumference, and can be used as an additional measure in people who are
overweight (with a BMI of 25 to 29.9) or moderately obese (with a BMI of 30 to
34.9).
Generally, men with a waist
circumference of 94cm or more and women with a waist circumference of 80cm or
more are more likely to develop obesity-related health problems.
Overweight and obesity are major
risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes,
cardiovascular diseases and cancer (breast cancer & bowel cancer). Obesity
can also affect your quality of life and lead to psychological problems, such
as low self-esteem or depression.
Obesity is generally caused by consuming more calories – particularly those in fatty and sugary foods – than you burn off through physical activity. The excess
energy is then stored by the body as fat.
Obesity is an increasingly common problem, because many modern lifestyles often
promote eating excessive amounts of cheap, high-calorie food and spending a lot
of time sitting at desks, on sofas or in cars.
Once considered a problem only in
high income countries, overweight and obesity are now dramatically on the rise
in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings.
- Worldwide obesity has nearly
doubled since 1980.
- In 2008, more than 1.4 billion
adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Of these over 200 million men and
nearly 300 million women were obese.
- 35% of adults aged 20 and over
were overweight in 2008, and 11% were obese.
- 65% of the world's population live
in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than
underweight.
- 42 million children under the age
of 5 were overweight or obese in 2013.
- Obesity is preventable.
In a new study scheduled for
publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers studied whether frequent
family meals during adolescence were protective for overweight and obesity in
adulthood.
Jerica M. Berge, PhD, MPH, LMFT,
CFLE, and colleagues from the University of Minnesota and Columbia University
used data from a 10-year longitudinal study (2,287 subjects), Project EAT
(Eating and Activity among Teens), to examine weight-related variables (e.g.,
dietary intake, physical activity, weight control behaviors) among adolescents.
Questions were asked to assess family meal frequency and body mass index.
According to Dr. Berge, “It is important to identify modifiable factors in the
home environment, such as family meals, that can protect against
overweight/obesity through the transition to adulthood.”
Fifty-one percent of the subjects
were overweight and 22% were obese. Among adolescents who reported that they
never ate family meals together, 60% were overweight and 29% were obese at the
10-year follow-up. Overall, all levels of baseline family meal frequency, even
having as few as 1-2 family meals a week during adolescence, were significantly
associated with reduced odds of overweight or obesity at the 10-year follow-up
compared with those reporting never having had family meals during adolescence.
Results also showed a stronger protective effect of family meal frequency on
obesity among black young adults compared with white young adults. However, the
limited significant interactions overall by race/ethnicity suggest that the
protective influence of family meals for adolescents spans all
races/ethnicities.
Family meals may be protective
against obesity or overweight because coming together for meals may provide
opportunities for emotional connections among family members, the food is more
likely to be healthful, and adolescents may be exposed to parental modeling of
healthful eating behaviors. As noted by Dr. Berge, “Informing parents that even
having 1 or 2 family meals per week may protect their child from overweight or
obesity in young adulthood would be important.” Using this information, public
health and health care professionals who work with adolescents can give parents
another tool in the fight against obesity.
Dr. Shima Naghavi, Director of
International Affairs