What diseases are obese children at risk for?
Childhood obesity is on the rise these days; it has become a severe threat. You might have seen your children sitting and playing video games all day, eating junk, and connecting friends over social media only. All these habits have given a spark to obesity, and now it has reached an epidemic condition.
Obese and overweight kids are at risk of developing several chronic diseases. Co-morbidities and poor health resulting from childhood obesity can continue in adulthood as well. In addition to this, childhood obesity doesn’t affect your children only physically, but it gives them mental trauma, depression, and low self-esteem.
Health risks associated with childhood obesity
Diabetes
Type-2 Diabetes is a medical condition in which your body stops using insulin in the usual way. Children and adults who are overweight and obese are likely to develop type-2 diabetes. Symptoms include blurry vision, frequent pee, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, and numbness in hands or feet.
Asthma
Asthma is a condition in which your airway passage becomes narrow, and it becomes hard to breathe. Due to obesity, excess fat around the chest area constrict the lungs and causes difficulty in breathing. This difficulty is not only driven in the daytime but also while you sleep. Such obstruction in breathing makes it hard for your children to have a sound sleep and causes them to snore heavily.
Joint pain
Obesity may result in joint pain, stiffness, which in turn causes difficulty in climbing stairs, and walking. Excess body weight puts a lot of pressure on your knees and contributes to soft tissue damage in joints. Losing weight can eliminate most of the problems or at least mitigate the damage.
Heart disease
Obesity results in high cholesterol which in turn raises the risk of heart diseases in future. Obese children tend to eat foods that are high in fat and sugar; it causes their blood pressure and cholesterol levels to rise. Due to this, in such an early age, they are at potential risk of developing stroke and heart attack.
Childhood obesity is a severe health issue in India. However, with the right education and support, your children can switch to healthier alternatives and cope up with obesity. Their choice of food may change, lifestyle may vary, and they can lose weight by staying active. This support must come from adults and family— their parents, siblings, teachers and caregivers.
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