Obesity in Children: a growing problem
The Caribbean region is a curious mix of wealth and want, resources and deficiencies, and in no way is this better demonstrated by our curious blend of childhood malnutrition where both the critically undernourished and the disturbingly over-nourished child may live side by side on any street. We must pay attention to the sneaky but certain increase in obesity in our children as it will create increasing health challenges not only in childhood but in the later years, with sure increases in chronic non-communicable diseases.
The New York Times outlines findings from a recent study which show Obesity Is Found to Gain Its Hold in Earliest Years
Parents, teachers, governments of the West Indies, we MUST wake up and DO something now.
Learn MoreHunger and Behaviour
What would your answer be if someone asked, “What affects a child’s behaviour?”
- Genetics
- Socialization
- Faith & Religion
- Culture
Rarely would the answer include hunger. But believe it or not, hunger plays a major part in behaviour. Look at the most basic form of behaviour, newborn babies. How do you known when babies are hungry: their behaviour changes. Most definitely you won’t see a hungry baby laughing and playing. Likewise, the statement “a hungry man is an angry man” is factual.
Narrowing down to school-age children, hunger will affect them both academically, and socially. Teachers may report a child as lazy, disruptive, withdrawn/antisocial, or they may find the student is unable to grasp the simple concepts being taught in class. It is important to note that it isn’t absolute that this is simply a lazy child, a disruptive child, an antisocial child, or a child that isn’t smart. It could just be that the child is hungry. Yes: HUNGRY.
Hunger is not simply a craving. Hunger is a physiological condition that is brought about by the anticipation of a meal. Hunger may include a long-term painful experience brought on by lack of food over a prolonged period. Hunger can lead to starvation, stunted growth and development, and even death. Depending on the duration of hunger, the child’s behaviour may be change immediately by simply feeding them.
From as far back as 1998, Dr Murphy et al conducted and published research in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry that revealed “Hungry and at-risk for hunger children were twice as likely as not-hungry children to be classified as having impaired functioning by parent and child report. Teachers reported higher levels of hyperactivity, absenteeism, and tardiness among hungry/at-risk children than not-hungry children.”
In addition, the Food Research and Action Center’s Breakfast for Learning report in 2010 reported that, “hungry children have lower math scores, are more likely to have to repeat a grade, are more likely to be hyperactive, absent or tardy, and have more behavioural and emotional problems in comparison to other children.”
Research coming out of Barbados, in conjunction with Harvard Medical School has recently confirmed that long-term changes occur in children who were hospitalized because of severe starvation. Although they had caught up with their physical growth, “these adults were more anxious, less sociable, less interested in new experiences and more hostile than those who were well-nourished throughout childhood”, as reported by Dr Janina Galler and her team in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Now that you know that hunger affects your child’s behaviour, academically and socially, ensure that your child is properly fed. The best way of doing so is to ensure that they have the most important meal of the day:
BREAKFAST
Our Guest Blogger is Chenell Griffiths of Nutribites.
Check her out at nutribites.webs.com or follow her on twitter @NutriBites
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“Sweets” Ban at School Parties
“Sweets” Ban at School Parties
When FRUIT is served with cake and other sugary sweets, the amount of calories children consume actually falls by 100-200 calories per child!
Could this type of restrictive guideline work in Caribbean schools?
Learn MoreThe study shows that kids can eat as many as one-third of all the calories they need in a day at a typical half-hour birthday party.
And those calories are coming from foods high in fat and sugar and low in nutrients — such as cake, fruit punch, ice cream, and chips.