Questões de Inglês

The Urgency in Fighting Childhood Obesity

Jane E. Brody

    Life-threatening ailments like heart disease,
cancer, stroke and Type 2 diabetes most often afflict
adults. But they are often consequences of childhood
obesity.

[5]    Two new studies, conducted among more than
half a million children in Denmark who were followed
for many years, linked a high body mass index (B.M.I)
in children to an increased risk of developing colon
cancer and suffering an early stroke as adults. The
[10] studies, presented at the European Obesity Summit
in Gothenburg, Sweden, this spring, underscore the
importance of preventing and reversing undue weight
gain in young children and teenagers.

    One study, of more than 257,623 people, by Dr.
[15] Britt Wang Jensen and colleagues at the Institute of
Preventive Medicine, in Bispebjerg, Denmark, and
Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, grouped
children according to standard deviations from a
mean B.M.I., adjusted for a child’s age and sex. They
[20] found that each unit of increase in being overweight at
age 13 increased the risk of developing colon cancer
by 9 percent and rectal cancer by 11 percent. 

    The second study, involving 307,677 Danish
people born from 1930 to 1987, used a similar grouping
[25] of B.M.I. The risk of developing a clot-related stroke in
early adult life increased by 26 percent in women and
21 percent in men for each unit of increase in being
overweight at all stages of childhood, but especially
at age 13.

[30]    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
[30]maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
[35]  to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    According to the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, obesity most often develops
from ages 5 to 6 or during the teen years, and “studies
have shown that a child who is obese between the
[40] ages of 10 and 13 has an 80 percent chance of
becoming an obese adult.”

    Children are generally considered obese when
their B.M.I. is at or above the 95th percentile for others
of the same age and sex. Currently, about one-third
[45] of American children are overweight or obese. By
2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reports, 18 percent of children and 21 percent of
adolescents were obese

    The adverse effects of excess weight in childhood
[50]and adolescence don’t necessarily wait to show up
later in life. In a review of complications resulting from 

youthful obesity, Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, a pediatrician
at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
and the Children’s Hospital in Denver, found that
[55]problems in many organ systems were often apparent
long before adulthood. They include high blood
pressure; insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes;
high blood levels of heart-damaging triglycerides
and low levels of protective high-density lipoprotein
[60] (HDL) cholesterol; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease;
obstructive sleep apnea; asthma; and excess stress
on the musculoskeletal system resulting in abnormal
bone development, knee and hip pain, and difficulty
walking.

[65]    Problems of youthful obesity go beyond physical
ones. Obese adolescents have higher rates of
depression, which in itself may foster poor eating and
exercise patterns that add to their weight problem
 and result in a poor quality of life that persists into
[70] adulthood.

    n a study conducted in Singapore, researchers
reported that “individuals who were obese in childhood
are more likely to have poor body image and low
self-esteem and confidence, even more so than those
[75] with adult onset obesity.”

    Another study by Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer of the
University of California, San Diego, and colleagues
found that obese children and adolescents reported a
diminished quality of life that was comparable to that
[80] of children with cancer

    Taken together, the data speak to the critical
importance of preventing undue weight gain in young
children, a task that depends largely on parents, who
are responsible for what and how much children eat
[85] and how much physical activity they engage in.

    “I encourage parents to change the environment
at home,” Dr. Stephen R. Daniels of the University
of Colorado said in an interview. “Without being
authoritarian, they should limit high-calorie-dense
[90] foods, keep sugar-sweetened beverages out of the
house and assure that kids eat the right amount of
fruits and vegetables and fewer calorie-dense snacks.
Parents also need to be tuned into opportunities for
physical activity and set hard-and-fast rules about
[95] television and time spent on electronics.”

    Following the “5210” daily program endorsed by
the American Academy of Pediatrics can help: Aim
for five fruits and vegetables a day; keep recreational
screen time to two hours or less; include at least
[100] one hour of active play and skip sugar-sweetened
beverages and drink water. 

Retrieved and adapted from http://well.blogs.nytimes. com/2016/07/05/the-urgency-in-fighting-childhood-obesity/?rref =collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&conte ntCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=hi ghlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront. Access on: July 5th,2016. Adapted.

The Urgency in Fighting Childhood Obesity

Jane E. Brody

    Life-threatening ailments like heart disease,
cancer, stroke and Type 2 diabetes most often afflict
adults. But they are often consequences of childhood
obesity.

[5]    Two new studies, conducted among more than
half a million children in Denmark who were followed
for many years, linked a high body mass index (B.M.I)
in children to an increased risk of developing colon
cancer and suffering an early stroke as adults. The
[10] studies, presented at the European Obesity Summit
in Gothenburg, Sweden, this spring, underscore the
importance of preventing and reversing undue weight
gain in young children and teenagers.

    One study, of more than 257,623 people, by Dr.
[15] Britt Wang Jensen and colleagues at the Institute of
Preventive Medicine, in Bispebjerg, Denmark, and
Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, grouped
children according to standard deviations from a
mean B.M.I., adjusted for a child’s age and sex. They
[20] found that each unit of increase in being overweight at
age 13 increased the risk of developing colon cancer
by 9 percent and rectal cancer by 11 percent. 

    The second study, involving 307,677 Danish
people born from 1930 to 1987, used a similar grouping
[25] of B.M.I. The risk of developing a clot-related stroke in
early adult life increased by 26 percent in women and
21 percent in men for each unit of increase in being
overweight at all stages of childhood, but especially
at age 13.

[30]    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
[30]maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
[35]  to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    According to the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, obesity most often develops
from ages 5 to 6 or during the teen years, and “studies
have shown that a child who is obese between the
[40] ages of 10 and 13 has an 80 percent chance of
becoming an obese adult.”

    Children are generally considered obese when
their B.M.I. is at or above the 95th percentile for others
of the same age and sex. Currently, about one-third
[45] of American children are overweight or obese. By
2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reports, 18 percent of children and 21 percent of
adolescents were obese

    The adverse effects of excess weight in childhood
[50]and adolescence don’t necessarily wait to show up
later in life. In a review of complications resulting from 

youthful obesity, Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, a pediatrician
at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
and the Children’s Hospital in Denver, found that
[55]problems in many organ systems were often apparent
long before adulthood. They include high blood
pressure; insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes;
high blood levels of heart-damaging triglycerides
and low levels of protective high-density lipoprotein
[60] (HDL) cholesterol; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease;
obstructive sleep apnea; asthma; and excess stress
on the musculoskeletal system resulting in abnormal
bone development, knee and hip pain, and difficulty
walking.

[65]    Problems of youthful obesity go beyond physical
ones. Obese adolescents have higher rates of
depression, which in itself may foster poor eating and
exercise patterns that add to their weight problem
 and result in a poor quality of life that persists into
[70] adulthood.

    n a study conducted in Singapore, researchers
reported that “individuals who were obese in childhood
are more likely to have poor body image and low
self-esteem and confidence, even more so than those
[75] with adult onset obesity.”

    Another study by Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer of the
University of California, San Diego, and colleagues
found that obese children and adolescents reported a
diminished quality of life that was comparable to that
[80] of children with cancer

    Taken together, the data speak to the critical
importance of preventing undue weight gain in young
children, a task that depends largely on parents, who
are responsible for what and how much children eat
[85] and how much physical activity they engage in.

    “I encourage parents to change the environment
at home,” Dr. Stephen R. Daniels of the University
of Colorado said in an interview. “Without being
authoritarian, they should limit high-calorie-dense
[90] foods, keep sugar-sweetened beverages out of the
house and assure that kids eat the right amount of
fruits and vegetables and fewer calorie-dense snacks.
Parents also need to be tuned into opportunities for
physical activity and set hard-and-fast rules about
[95] television and time spent on electronics.”

    Following the “5210” daily program endorsed by
the American Academy of Pediatrics can help: Aim
for five fruits and vegetables a day; keep recreational
screen time to two hours or less; include at least
[100] one hour of active play and skip sugar-sweetened
beverages and drink water. 

Retrieved and adapted from http://well.blogs.nytimes. com/2016/07/05/the-urgency-in-fighting-childhood-obesity/?rref =collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&conte ntCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=hi ghlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront. Access on: July 5th,2016. Adapted.

The Urgency in Fighting Childhood Obesity

Jane E. Brody

    Life-threatening ailments like heart disease,
cancer, stroke and Type 2 diabetes most often afflict
adults. But they are often consequences of childhood
obesity.

[5]    Two new studies, conducted among more than
half a million children in Denmark who were followed
for many years, linked a high body mass index (B.M.I)
in children to an increased risk of developing colon
cancer and suffering an early stroke as adults. The
[10] studies, presented at the European Obesity Summit
in Gothenburg, Sweden, this spring, underscore the
importance of preventing and reversing undue weight
gain in young children and teenagers.

    One study, of more than 257,623 people, by Dr.
[15] Britt Wang Jensen and colleagues at the Institute of
Preventive Medicine, in Bispebjerg, Denmark, and
Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, grouped
children according to standard deviations from a
mean B.M.I., adjusted for a child’s age and sex. They
[20] found that each unit of increase in being overweight at
age 13 increased the risk of developing colon cancer
by 9 percent and rectal cancer by 11 percent. 

    The second study, involving 307,677 Danish
people born from 1930 to 1987, used a similar grouping
[25] of B.M.I. The risk of developing a clot-related stroke in
early adult life increased by 26 percent in women and
21 percent in men for each unit of increase in being
overweight at all stages of childhood, but especially
at age 13.

[30]    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
[30]maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
[35]  to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    According to the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, obesity most often develops
from ages 5 to 6 or during the teen years, and “studies
have shown that a child who is obese between the
[40] ages of 10 and 13 has an 80 percent chance of
becoming an obese adult.”

    Children are generally considered obese when
their B.M.I. is at or above the 95th percentile for others
of the same age and sex. Currently, about one-third
[45] of American children are overweight or obese. By
2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reports, 18 percent of children and 21 percent of
adolescents were obese

    The adverse effects of excess weight in childhood
[50]and adolescence don’t necessarily wait to show up
later in life. In a review of complications resulting from 

youthful obesity, Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, a pediatrician
at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
and the Children’s Hospital in Denver, found that
[55]problems in many organ systems were often apparent
long before adulthood. They include high blood
pressure; insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes;
high blood levels of heart-damaging triglycerides
and low levels of protective high-density lipoprotein
[60] (HDL) cholesterol; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease;
obstructive sleep apnea; asthma; and excess stress
on the musculoskeletal system resulting in abnormal
bone development, knee and hip pain, and difficulty
walking.

[65]    Problems of youthful obesity go beyond physical
ones. Obese adolescents have higher rates of
depression, which in itself may foster poor eating and
exercise patterns that add to their weight problem
 and result in a poor quality of life that persists into
[70] adulthood.

    n a study conducted in Singapore, researchers
reported that “individuals who were obese in childhood
are more likely to have poor body image and low
self-esteem and confidence, even more so than those
[75] with adult onset obesity.”

    Another study by Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer of the
University of California, San Diego, and colleagues
found that obese children and adolescents reported a
diminished quality of life that was comparable to that
[80] of children with cancer

    Taken together, the data speak to the critical
importance of preventing undue weight gain in young
children, a task that depends largely on parents, who
are responsible for what and how much children eat
[85] and how much physical activity they engage in.

    “I encourage parents to change the environment
at home,” Dr. Stephen R. Daniels of the University
of Colorado said in an interview. “Without being
authoritarian, they should limit high-calorie-dense
[90] foods, keep sugar-sweetened beverages out of the
house and assure that kids eat the right amount of
fruits and vegetables and fewer calorie-dense snacks.
Parents also need to be tuned into opportunities for
physical activity and set hard-and-fast rules about
[95] television and time spent on electronics.”

    Following the “5210” daily program endorsed by
the American Academy of Pediatrics can help: Aim
for five fruits and vegetables a day; keep recreational
screen time to two hours or less; include at least
[100] one hour of active play and skip sugar-sweetened
beverages and drink water. 

Retrieved and adapted from http://well.blogs.nytimes. com/2016/07/05/the-urgency-in-fighting-childhood-obesity/?rref =collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&conte ntCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=hi ghlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront. Access on: July 5th,2016. Adapted.

The Urgency in Fighting Childhood Obesity

Jane E. Brody

    Life-threatening ailments like heart disease,
cancer, stroke and Type 2 diabetes most often afflict
adults. But they are often consequences of childhood
obesity.

[5]    Two new studies, conducted among more than
half a million children in Denmark who were followed
for many years, linked a high body mass index (B.M.I)
in children to an increased risk of developing colon
cancer and suffering an early stroke as adults. The
[10] studies, presented at the European Obesity Summit
in Gothenburg, Sweden, this spring, underscore the
importance of preventing and reversing undue weight
gain in young children and teenagers.

    One study, of more than 257,623 people, by Dr.
[15] Britt Wang Jensen and colleagues at the Institute of
Preventive Medicine, in Bispebjerg, Denmark, and
Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, grouped
children according to standard deviations from a
mean B.M.I., adjusted for a child’s age and sex. They
[20] found that each unit of increase in being overweight at
age 13 increased the risk of developing colon cancer
by 9 percent and rectal cancer by 11 percent. 

    The second study, involving 307,677 Danish
people born from 1930 to 1987, used a similar grouping
[25] of B.M.I. The risk of developing a clot-related stroke in
early adult life increased by 26 percent in women and
21 percent in men for each unit of increase in being
overweight at all stages of childhood, but especially
at age 13.

[30]    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
[30]maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
[35]  to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    According to the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, obesity most often develops
from ages 5 to 6 or during the teen years, and “studies
have shown that a child who is obese between the
[40] ages of 10 and 13 has an 80 percent chance of
becoming an obese adult.”

    Children are generally considered obese when
their B.M.I. is at or above the 95th percentile for others
of the same age and sex. Currently, about one-third
[45] of American children are overweight or obese. By
2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reports, 18 percent of children and 21 percent of
adolescents were obese

    The adverse effects of excess weight in childhood
[50]and adolescence don’t necessarily wait to show up
later in life. In a review of complications resulting from 

youthful obesity, Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, a pediatrician
at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
and the Children’s Hospital in Denver, found that
[55]problems in many organ systems were often apparent
long before adulthood. They include high blood
pressure; insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes;
high blood levels of heart-damaging triglycerides
and low levels of protective high-density lipoprotein
[60] (HDL) cholesterol; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease;
obstructive sleep apnea; asthma; and excess stress
on the musculoskeletal system resulting in abnormal
bone development, knee and hip pain, and difficulty
walking.

[65]    Problems of youthful obesity go beyond physical
ones. Obese adolescents have higher rates of
depression, which in itself may foster poor eating and
exercise patterns that add to their weight problem
 and result in a poor quality of life that persists into
[70] adulthood.

    n a study conducted in Singapore, researchers
reported that “individuals who were obese in childhood
are more likely to have poor body image and low
self-esteem and confidence, even more so than those
[75] with adult onset obesity.”

    Another study by Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer of the
University of California, San Diego, and colleagues
found that obese children and adolescents reported a
diminished quality of life that was comparable to that
[80] of children with cancer

    Taken together, the data speak to the critical
importance of preventing undue weight gain in young
children, a task that depends largely on parents, who
are responsible for what and how much children eat
[85] and how much physical activity they engage in.

    “I encourage parents to change the environment
at home,” Dr. Stephen R. Daniels of the University
of Colorado said in an interview. “Without being
authoritarian, they should limit high-calorie-dense
[90] foods, keep sugar-sweetened beverages out of the
house and assure that kids eat the right amount of
fruits and vegetables and fewer calorie-dense snacks.
Parents also need to be tuned into opportunities for
physical activity and set hard-and-fast rules about
[95] television and time spent on electronics.”

    Following the “5210” daily program endorsed by
the American Academy of Pediatrics can help: Aim
for five fruits and vegetables a day; keep recreational
screen time to two hours or less; include at least
[100] one hour of active play and skip sugar-sweetened
beverages and drink water. 

Retrieved and adapted from http://well.blogs.nytimes. com/2016/07/05/the-urgency-in-fighting-childhood-obesity/?rref =collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&conte ntCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=hi ghlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront. Access on: July 5th,2016. Adapted.

The Urgency in Fighting Childhood Obesity

Jane E. Brody

    Life-threatening ailments like heart disease,
cancer, stroke and Type 2 diabetes most often afflict
adults. But they are often consequences of childhood
obesity.

[5]    Two new studies, conducted among more than
half a million children in Denmark who were followed
for many years, linked a high body mass index (B.M.I)
in children to an increased risk of developing colon
cancer and suffering an early stroke as adults. The
[10] studies, presented at the European Obesity Summit
in Gothenburg, Sweden, this spring, underscore the
importance of preventing and reversing undue weight
gain in young children and teenagers.

    One study, of more than 257,623 people, by Dr.
[15] Britt Wang Jensen and colleagues at the Institute of
Preventive Medicine, in Bispebjerg, Denmark, and
Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, grouped
children according to standard deviations from a
mean B.M.I., adjusted for a child’s age and sex. They
[20] found that each unit of increase in being overweight at
age 13 increased the risk of developing colon cancer
by 9 percent and rectal cancer by 11 percent. 

    The second study, involving 307,677 Danish
people born from 1930 to 1987, used a similar grouping
[25] of B.M.I. The risk of developing a clot-related stroke in
early adult life increased by 26 percent in women and
21 percent in men for each unit of increase in being
overweight at all stages of childhood, but especially
at age 13.

[30]    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
[30]maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
[35]  to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    According to the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, obesity most often develops
from ages 5 to 6 or during the teen years, and “studies
have shown that a child who is obese between the
[40] ages of 10 and 13 has an 80 percent chance of
becoming an obese adult.”

    Children are generally considered obese when
their B.M.I. is at or above the 95th percentile for others
of the same age and sex. Currently, about one-third
[45] of American children are overweight or obese. By
2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reports, 18 percent of children and 21 percent of
adolescents were obese

    The adverse effects of excess weight in childhood
[50]and adolescence don’t necessarily wait to show up
later in life. In a review of complications resulting from 

youthful obesity, Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, a pediatrician
at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
and the Children’s Hospital in Denver, found that
[55]problems in many organ systems were often apparent
long before adulthood. They include high blood
pressure; insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes;
high blood levels of heart-damaging triglycerides
and low levels of protective high-density lipoprotein
[60] (HDL) cholesterol; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease;
obstructive sleep apnea; asthma; and excess stress
on the musculoskeletal system resulting in abnormal
bone development, knee and hip pain, and difficulty
walking.

[65]    Problems of youthful obesity go beyond physical
ones. Obese adolescents have higher rates of
depression, which in itself may foster poor eating and
exercise patterns that add to their weight problem
 and result in a poor quality of life that persists into
[70] adulthood.

    n a study conducted in Singapore, researchers
reported that “individuals who were obese in childhood
are more likely to have poor body image and low
self-esteem and confidence, even more so than those
[75] with adult onset obesity.”

    Another study by Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer of the
University of California, San Diego, and colleagues
found that obese children and adolescents reported a
diminished quality of life that was comparable to that
[80] of children with cancer

    Taken together, the data speak to the critical
importance of preventing undue weight gain in young
children, a task that depends largely on parents, who
are responsible for what and how much children eat
[85] and how much physical activity they engage in.

    “I encourage parents to change the environment
at home,” Dr. Stephen R. Daniels of the University
of Colorado said in an interview. “Without being
authoritarian, they should limit high-calorie-dense
[90] foods, keep sugar-sweetened beverages out of the
house and assure that kids eat the right amount of
fruits and vegetables and fewer calorie-dense snacks.
Parents also need to be tuned into opportunities for
physical activity and set hard-and-fast rules about
[95] television and time spent on electronics.”

    Following the “5210” daily program endorsed by
the American Academy of Pediatrics can help: Aim
for five fruits and vegetables a day; keep recreational
screen time to two hours or less; include at least
[100] one hour of active play and skip sugar-sweetened
beverages and drink water. 

Retrieved and adapted from http://well.blogs.nytimes. com/2016/07/05/the-urgency-in-fighting-childhood-obesity/?rref =collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&conte ntCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=hi ghlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront. Access on: July 5th,2016. Adapted.

The Urgency in Fighting Childhood Obesity

Jane E. Brody

    Life-threatening ailments like heart disease,
cancer, stroke and Type 2 diabetes most often afflict
adults. But they are often consequences of childhood
obesity.

[5]    Two new studies, conducted among more than
half a million children in Denmark who were followed
for many years, linked a high body mass index (B.M.I)
in children to an increased risk of developing colon
cancer and suffering an early stroke as adults. The
[10] studies, presented at the European Obesity Summit
in Gothenburg, Sweden, this spring, underscore the
importance of preventing and reversing undue weight
gain in young children and teenagers.

    One study, of more than 257,623 people, by Dr.
[15] Britt Wang Jensen and colleagues at the Institute of
Preventive Medicine, in Bispebjerg, Denmark, and
Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, grouped
children according to standard deviations from a
mean B.M.I., adjusted for a child’s age and sex. They
[20] found that each unit of increase in being overweight at
age 13 increased the risk of developing colon cancer
by 9 percent and rectal cancer by 11 percent. 

    The second study, involving 307,677 Danish
people born from 1930 to 1987, used a similar grouping
[25] of B.M.I. The risk of developing a clot-related stroke in
early adult life increased by 26 percent in women and
21 percent in men for each unit of increase in being
overweight at all stages of childhood, but especially
at age 13.

[30]    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
[30]maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    Although neither study proves that excess weight
in childhood itself, as opposed to being overweight as
an adult, is responsible for the higher rates of cancer
and stroke, overweight children are much more likely
[35]  to become overweight adults — unless they adopt and
maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.

    According to the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, obesity most often develops
from ages 5 to 6 or during the teen years, and “studies
have shown that a child who is obese between the
[40] ages of 10 and 13 has an 80 percent chance of
becoming an obese adult.”

    Children are generally considered obese when
their B.M.I. is at or above the 95th percentile for others
of the same age and sex. Currently, about one-third
[45] of American children are overweight or obese. By
2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reports, 18 percent of children and 21 percent of
adolescents were obese

    The adverse effects of excess weight in childhood
[50]and adolescence don’t necessarily wait to show up
later in life. In a review of complications resulting from 

youthful obesity, Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, a pediatrician
at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
and the Children’s Hospital in Denver, found that
[55]problems in many organ systems were often apparent
long before adulthood. They include high blood
pressure; insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes;
high blood levels of heart-damaging triglycerides
and low levels of protective high-density lipoprotein
[60] (HDL) cholesterol; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease;
obstructive sleep apnea; asthma; and excess stress
on the musculoskeletal system resulting in abnormal
bone development, knee and hip pain, and difficulty
walking.

[65]    Problems of youthful obesity go beyond physical
ones. Obese adolescents have higher rates of
depression, which in itself may foster poor eating and
exercise patterns that add to their weight problem
 and result in a poor quality of life that persists into
[70] adulthood.

    n a study conducted in Singapore, researchers
reported that “individuals who were obese in childhood
are more likely to have poor body image and low
self-esteem and confidence, even more so than those
[75] with adult onset obesity.”

    Another study by Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer of the
University of California, San Diego, and colleagues
found that obese children and adolescents reported a
diminished quality of life that was comparable to that
[80] of children with cancer

    Taken together, the data speak to the critical
importance of preventing undue weight gain in young
children, a task that depends largely on parents, who
are responsible for what and how much children eat
[85] and how much physical activity they engage in.

    “I encourage parents to change the environment
at home,” Dr. Stephen R. Daniels of the University
of Colorado said in an interview. “Without being
authoritarian, they should limit high-calorie-dense
[90] foods, keep sugar-sweetened beverages out of the
house and assure that kids eat the right amount of
fruits and vegetables and fewer calorie-dense snacks.
Parents also need to be tuned into opportunities for
physical activity and set hard-and-fast rules about
[95] television and time spent on electronics.”

    Following the “5210” daily program endorsed by
the American Academy of Pediatrics can help: Aim
for five fruits and vegetables a day; keep recreational
screen time to two hours or less; include at least
[100] one hour of active play and skip sugar-sweetened
beverages and drink water. 

Retrieved and adapted from http://well.blogs.nytimes. com/2016/07/05/the-urgency-in-fighting-childhood-obesity/?rref =collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&conte ntCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=hi ghlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront. Access on: July 5th,2016. Adapted.