Severe obesity often has more than one cause. Heredity plays a role, but unhealthy food that is available everywhere makes the problem even worse.
“There are children who exercise almost every day and yet are obese. The complexity of obesity is that many factors play a role. Natural predisposition is one of them, you often get that from your parents. It determines why one child becomes fat and another does not, even though they live in the same environment,” explains pediatrician Erica van den Akker.
Living environment
Yet the environment in which children grow up is one of the strongest causes of obesity. There is a lot of unhealthy food and drink for sale and this is often cheaper than healthy options.
For the first time, there are more overweight children worldwide than underweight, according to a UNICEF report. And according to the World Obesity Federation, half of the world’s population will be overweight by 2035.
In the Netherlands, half of adults are overweight. In children, 15% are overweight, of whom 4% are obese. That is about 500,000 children, of which 120,000 are seriously overweight.
Parental responsibility
Until now, the responsibility lies mainly with the parents. But do they see the problem? Research shows not: “More than 60 percent of parents do not notice that their child is overweight,” says staff doctor Emilie Ruiter.
Even with obesity, more than 90% think their child has a normal weight. Then parents indicated that they thought their child was normal in weight or perhaps a little too heavy. But obese, no.
They often say: “He will grow out of it.” A possible cause: in the media you mainly see extremely fat children with fast food. As a result, parents do not recognize milder obesity.
Prevention government
Political reporter Niels Klaasen sees that little is happening in The Hague. “They find prevention difficult, because it looks like patronizing. That word scares politicians.” Even small steps are difficult, such as the plan to introduce zero percent VAT on fruit and vegetables.
That doesn’t work, even though it seems like a simple measure. The problem is growing, but solutions are not forthcoming. Meanwhile, children are increasingly confronted with an environment that makes unhealthy eating normal.
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