Among Children & Adolescents.
Future is looking fat! Don’t feel elated about it. Over the past 2 decades, the prevalence of obesity among young school going children has tripled. Researches have credited this to the lifestyle changes and also due to this current pandemic situation wherein, now health & Immunity are of paramount focus.
Childhood obesity has grown at a faster rate than adult obesity in many places. Guess what? India is the fastest and is all set to take over the title of ‘Obesity capital’ of the world among children. As per a recent study, an annual increase of 2.3% in diabetes incidence has been reported in children, aged 6 and above.
Traditional easy to use screening tool based on height and weight falls short in identifying the body fat levels among children and puts them at risk. Prominent pediatrician, Dr. Bharat Agarwal, explains how India is staring at an epidemic of obesity among Indian children exposing them to a very high risk of hypertension, diabetes, cancer, heart diseases etc. With more than 30,000 children registered with his children’s hospital in Bandra, Dr. Agarwal is working overtime to get families check ‘fat and muscles’ instead of just ‘weight’.
Among the reasons for childhood obesity are the processed foods, fast foods, and foods that don’t love our body as much as we love them. This along with less physical activities, high screen time, more indoor leisure activities and digital entertainment is leading to a scenario where children are getting obese even before they reach maturity. Less knowledge about your body composition, its analysis and nutrition among all, also adds to obesity.
It’s time to gear up and stay alert with the hurricane that is aiming towards our future generations. Managing obesity in young children presents unique challenges due to the young child’s developmental level, complex changes in weight, height and body composition, making it difficult to evaluate growth trends and associated health risks. Body composition analysis provides valuable information for monitoring growth trends throughout childhood and adolescence. The healthy regimen should be adapted quickly to the child’s dynamic growth and development. Understanding and monitoring weight, skeletal muscle mass, and percent body fat, to track and maintain the ideal body composition is the key here and is pretty simple.
Lighten up the Childs’ Growth with InBody!
Checking body composition not only assesses their contemporaneous nutritional status, but also is linked directly to the possible onset of chronic diseases, and their prevention & Intervention. It enhances lifestyle by tracking the overall development of children through charts and graphs on various parameters, accurately in a non-invasive way. It is crucial to monitor body composition during adolescence as fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) varies quickly during this time, which are influenced by a variety of factors, including genetics, diet, lifestyle, and environment, and have different implications for development across the growth spectrum. Thus, can assist in:
- Providing valuable information for monitoring growth trends throughout childhood and adolescence.
- Alert providers and administrators to potential health risks associated with obesity, allowing for earlier implementation of lifestyle behavior modifications.
- Create personalized nutrition and exercise interventions to improve long-term youth health outcomes.
Focus should be on good health, not a certain weight goal or just fat loss. Monitor the development and progression of diabetic complications by using body composition analyzer and keep right and balanced health.
Let’s move away from a fat future to a smart future.
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