Research on Obesity

Posted 8/19/2009

There’s been a lot of research on obesity. The first thing people need to know about obesity is that it is defined differently than overweight.

Obesity means having too much body fat, while being overweight means weighing too much. Both mean that a person's weight is greater than what is considered healthy for his or her height.

Since kids grow at different rates, it isn't always easy to know when a child is obese or overweight. That’s why it’s so important to ask your doctor to measure your child's height and weight to determine if they are in a healthy range.

With that in mind, let’s look at the research on obesity. Approximately 9 million American children over the age of 6 are already considered obese. That’s a lot. So we need to be focusing A LOT more on prevention of this problem.

So, what does successful childhood obesity prevention require?

Making changes at multiple levels of society, starting with families. Parents have to understand this issue and then take action. Individual communities can also do more. Interventions must provide support to individuals, families, schools, health care providers, and communities in making changes that will lead to healthier eating and more fitness among adolescents.

Let’s look at some more research on obesity.

A British study, involving 5,500 children and published in the latest issue of PLoS Medicine, used accurate methods to measure the ‘fat mass’ of the kids and the amount of physical activity they were involved in. The researchers concluded that low levels of activity, particularly moderate and vigorous activity, play an important role in the development of obesity.

While it would appear to be common sense that anyone who is overweight or obese has been doing less physical activity than others, body fat and energy output are hard to measure accurately.

The researchers employed advanced techniques – an Actigraph accelerometer for activity and an X-ray emission absorptiometry scanner for fat mass. They considered that the top 10% of the children in terms of fat mass were obese.

What those techniques showed was that the less a child is active, the higher their fat mass will be. This effect was stronger in boys than in girls.

What is abundantly clear in this research, though, is that greater activity, especially moderate and vigorous activity, should be a key part of policies to address the obesity epidemic.

So, what is some of this moderate or vigorous activity?

Playing sports: (basketball, tennis, Swimming, soccer, etc.)

Hobbies: (Dancing, skating, mall walking, jogging, others)

Fitness routines: (Pilates, yoga, Weight Training)

Parents, it’s up to you to take charge if your child doesn’t volunteer to do any of these things. Tell them you’re going to sign them up for a sport or activity, and give them a list. Then, let them choose. Only choose for them if they refuse. Then follow through. Encourage. And think about setting a good example. What physical activity can you do with them? If they see you active and interested in being fit, then they’ll be more motivated to participate as well.

Read more about the research on obesity and what your teen can do.