THE CRITICAL time to intervene to prevent the development of obesity is during the pre-school years and in early adolescence, a conference on sport and exercise medicine has been told.
With one in five Irish teens either overweight or obese, Cork GP Dr John O’Riordan argued strongly that it was vital to intervene early in a child’s life with healthy eating and activity programmes.
He recommended the widespread use of programmes like littlesteps.eu – a guide to eating well and being active – as well as An Bord Bia’s Food Dudes initiative and the Action for Life exercise programme for primary schools.
Dr O’Riordan was addressing the sixth annual conference of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine, RCPI and RCSI in Dublin at the weekend on the topic of Obesity in Childhood: Primary Care Perspective.
He pointed to the strong parental influence on the prevalence of obesity in Irish teenagers and said fat children would become fat adults – research has found that 50 per cent of obese schoolchildren and 80 per cent of obese adolescents in Ireland will become obese adults.
“The pattern of children’s TV advertising distorts the food pyramid as it shows mainly fatty and sugary foods such as confectionary and fast food restaurants. In 40 hours of children’s TV, out of a total of 270 ads, you will see 239 ads for foods with high salt, fat and sugar levels and zero ads for fruit or exercise,” he claimed.
Dr O’Riordan said Ireland currently lacked Body Mass Index (BMI) weight reference charts and these should be produced as a priority. An age-related BMI should be used to determine overweight and obesity, he said.
Founder and president of the Irish Osteoporosis Society, Prof Moira O’Brien told the conference that it was critical that children exercised between the ages of eight to 12 years when they should be laying down bone in their bodies, but this was not happening in Ireland.
“Most of the children in our primary schools are being driven to school, they spend hours sitting at computers and do not exercise. By the age of 15, 87 per cent of Irish girls and 73 per cent of boys are not doing the WHO-recommended 60 minutes of physical activity a day.”
Prof O’Brien said children who did not exercise were much more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and mental disorders such as anxiety and depression when they hit their teens.
“We are seeing kids as young as eight years of age with type 2 diabetes and eight and nine-year-olds becoming anorexic and bulimic. As a result they are getting osteopinea and osteoporosis in their teens.”
Prof O’Brien also highlighted the lack of proper supervision and protection for children involved in sports and she said horse-riding and gymnastics were the two worst sports in terms of serious or fatal injury in children.
“You also have the kids who are uncoordinated or clumsy, usually due to some minor disorder like flat feet, bad hearing or eyesight. If we intervene and correct the problem, we can really change the lives of children who might be belligerent in class and have low self-esteem.
“We should give them individual tuition to help them play sport as is being done in Australia,” she suggested.
Meanwhile, a DVD for teenagers which aims to raise awareness of osteoporosis has been launched by the Irish Osteoporosis Society. It is aimed primarily at secondary school children aged 12-18 and aims to dispel myths surrounding osteoporosis, including the assumption that it is an “old lady’s disease”.
The DVD, workbook and Powerpoint presentation costs €15 and can be ordered through the Irish Osteoporosis website www.irishosteoporosis.ie or by calling 1890-252751.
