Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in economical advanced countries. Childhood obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index in or above the 95th percentile. In the United States, 17% of children age 2-19 are obese. A study conducted by the World Health Organization in Europe estimated that 24% of children ages 6-9 are obese.
Although children’s weight may vary greatly and many children who were high percentile early on will be average weight before they their pre-teen years, a larger number of children will remain overweight. There have been studies showing that being obese at age 8 puts you at higher risk for being obese as an adult. Childhood obesity puts you at risk for a many health problems later on in life, including (but not limited to) high blood pressure, increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, breathing problems, joint problems and asthma.
Over the past 30 years the rate of childhood obesity has tripled in the US alone. What can we do?
A team at the University of Illinois has defined and characterized a set of criteria to determine whether or not a child will develop obesity. The model is called the Six-Cs: Cell, Child, Clan, Community, Country and Culture. There are several components that we, as a community, cannot control, like any genetic predispositions the child may have. Surprisingly, there several ways in which a community can help reduce the incidence of childhood obesity.
As a community, we can encourage all mothers to get an education, as limited maternal education increases the child’s risk. Also, we can lead by example when making food choices. Instead of a plethora of dessert options, we should offer fruit and vegetables. Also, we can stop serving sugary soft drinks of any kind in the Mosque. Whenever possible, we can try to build a playground near the Mosque, so that children can play together after events. In addition, we need to become aware of when marginalize individuals who are overweight or obese. Making a child feel bad about their weight will compound the problem, not help.