Pediatricians from all over the country are raising the alarm because the number of children with obesity is increasing significantly. Pediatrician Edgar van Mil also sees this every day at the Jeroen Bosch Hospital (JBZ) in Den Bosch. “I see more and more children who, in addition to being overweight, also have type 2 diabetes. Five years ago that was unusual, now it is almost normal. That is not a good sign.”
In the Netherlands, almost 400,000 children are overweight and approximately 100,000 of them are obese, seriously overweight. Children in the latter group in particular often have serious health problems, such as type 2 diabetes and joint complaints.
At first, Van Mil thought that this was mainly a problem around the hospital in Den Bosch, where children from all over the Netherlands with both obesity and type 2 diabetes were treated. After asking colleagues in other hospitals, it turned out that JBZ was not alone.
This scares the pediatrician-endocrinologist and professor at Maastricht University. A few years ago, he says, children with type 2 diabetes were still exceptions. “Most children with diabetes have type 1, a completely different form of diabetes, the development of which has nothing to do with lifestyle. Today, 2 to 3 percent of overweight children have type 2 diabetes. In this form of diabetes, lifestyle is part of the cause. That is a huge increase.”
That is why Van Mil, together with the Dutch Association for Pediatrics (NVK), is calling on the cabinet: “Do not relax the rules of the law on children’s marketing, but rather tighten them.”
The doctors hope that children will be less tempted by all kinds of advertisements about unhealthy food.
How can the number of children with obesity increase?
According to the pediatrician, there are several reasons for this, but there is one thing that stands head and shoulders above the rest: our environment. “We are eating more and more snacks and there are more temptations than ever.”
According to him, research has shown that ‘the more choice there is, the greater the temptation and the chance that you will buy unhealthy things’. A full crisps shelf in the supermarket therefore sells better than a half-filled shelf.
In addition, commerce has become increasingly smarter. “They’re trying to build a relationship with you as a customer and they know what we like. That’s dangerous.”
What can you do as a parent?
That’s a difficult one, because 60 percent of our weight is hereditary. So it may just be that you have just adopted those genes and that is exactly where the crux lies. “That means that something that may be good for one child may not work for another.”
Van Mil regularly encounters parents who do not understand this. “Unfortunately, some people are unlucky enough to have to try three times as hard to achieve a certain result. In our expertise center we try to help families in this as best as possible.”