Italian children are among the most obese in Europe: 34.2% between 6 and 10 years old are overweight, according to Istat data released in July, but with an improvement compared to the previous 5 years (2015/16 vs 2010/11).
The phenomenon has been under control by the World Health Organization for years: the latest study involved 250 thousand European children and if in Northern Europe (France, Norway, Denmark and Holland) only about 7% of them are considered obese or overweight, in the South (Italy, Cyprus, Spain, Greece and Malta) they are close to 20%. According to a survey conducted on about 50 thousand children and parents in 2016 by OKkio alla Salute, the national surveillance system dedicated to collecting information on the lifestyles of primary school children, in Italy in 2017 21.3% of children were overweight, 9.3% obese.
Also in this case the trend is slowly but steadily decreasing: for obesity it went from 12% in 2008-2009 to 9.3% in 2016, with a relative decrease of 22.5%; Overweight went from 23.2% in 200-/2009 to 21.3% in 2016, with a relative decrease of 8%. The good news is therefore that in less than ten years the excess weight (overweight + obesity) of children has decreased by 13% (from 35.2% in 2008-2009 to 30.6% in 2016).
Children eat poorly and do not move
In Italy, according to data from the National Center for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 8% of children skip breakfast and 33% do so in an unbalanced way in terms of carbohydrates and proteins. In addition, at mid-morning 53% of children have a snack too abundant and 20% of parents declare that their children do not consume fruit and vegetables daily, but for 36% sugary or carbonated drinks.
In addition, 33.8% perform structured physical activity at most one day a week. And only one in four children commutes to school on foot or by bicycle. And again: 41% watch TV and / or play video games / tablets / mobile phones for more than two hours a day (the maximum time recommended by experts), thus increasing sedentary lifestyle. Obesity is an important risk factor for chronic diseases of adulthood, such as hypertension or cardiovascular disease.
The health balance to prevent
In Italy all the Regions are committed to the implementation of the National Prevention Plan (PNP) 2014-2018 which, in collaboration with family pediatricians and schools, also aims to increase by 15% the prevalence of children aged 8-9 years who consume fruit and / or vegetables at least twice a day and to reduce by 30% the prevalence of subjects aged three years and over who consume too much salt. All Italian children from birth to 14 years are subjected, by the family pediatrician, to periodic visits at defined intervals: they are the “health balances” (or BdS), programmed according to a calendar with a high frequency during the first year (0-3-6-8-12 months), and more reduced in the following years (18 months-3-6-10-14 years). In the evaluation of pre-adolescent or adolescent boys (BdS of 10th-14th) in particular, weight control in relation to height (BMI) leads to the identification of any eating disorders (thinness-anorexia or overweight-obesity-bulimia) and therefore allows to recommend an optimal lifestyle, shared by the whole family, set on a diet appropriate to the development phase and on the incentive of daily physical activity, in addition to the usual sports training.
Joycelyn Elders is the author and creator of EmpowerEssence, a health and wellness blog. Elders is a respected public health advocate and pediatrician dedicated to promoting general health and well-being.
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