Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

Chapter 3
Obesity prevention:a life-course approach
Fetal
life
Infancy
and
childhood
Adolescence
Adult life
Development of obesity
SES
Mother’s
Nutrition
Smoking
Growth
Birth weight
Breastfeeding
SES
Infection
PEM
Micronutrients
Growth rate
Stature
Physical Activity
Food behavior
Obesity
Sendentarism
Inactivity
Smoking
Established adult risky behaviors
Diet/Physical activity, Tobacco,
Alcohol
Biological risks
Socio-economic status
Environmental conditions
Accumulated risk
Genetic susceptibility to Obesity
Age
Figure 3.2 The life - course approach to obesity prevention considers age specific actions at each stage of the life
course, the objective of these actions is to ameliorate the burden of obesity that is preventable by diet and physical
activity interventions.
artificial formula, considering that flow of milk from
the bottle is faster than from the breast, so it is easier
to provide excess energy; instructing mothers to
accept their child ’ s ability to regulate energy intake
rather than feeding until the plate is empty; and assuring
the appropriate micronutrient intake needed to
promote optimal linear growth.
Older children and adolescents The main preventive
strategies in these age groups are to: promote an active
lifestyle, limit television viewing, promote the intake
of fruits and vegetables; restrict the intake of energy -
dense, micronutrient - poor foods (e.g., packaged
snacks); restrict the intake of sugar - sweetened soft
drinks. Additional measures to support these behavioral
approaches include: modifying the environment
to enhance physical activity in schools and communities;
creating more opportunities for family interaction
(e.g., eating family meals); limiting the exposure
to aggressive marketing practices of energy - dense,
micronutrient - poor foods; and providing the necessary
information and skills to make better food
choices. In lower income countries, special attention
should be given to avoidance of overfeeding stunted
population groups. Nutrition programmes designed
to control or prevent undernutrition need to assess
stature in combination with weight to prevent providing
excess energy to children of low weight - for - age
but normal weight-for-height.8,9 In countries undergoing
rapid growth and demographic transition, and
as populations become more sedentary and able
to access energy - dense foods, there is a need to maintain
the healthy components of traditional diets (e.g.,
high intake of vegetables, fruits and non - starch
polysaccharides).10
Education provided to parents from disadvantaged
communities that are food insecure should stress that
overweight and obesity do not represent good health.
Low - income groups globally and populations in
countries in economic transition often replace traditional
micronutrient - rich foods by heavily marketed,
sugar - sweetened beverages (such as soft drinks) and
energy - dense fatty, salty and sugary foods. 10
These trends, coupled with reduced physical activity,
are associated with the rising prevalence of obesity.
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