Your health: Childhood obesity

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Did you know that the health problems associated with childhood obesity are so severe that there are concerns that today’s generation of children will not live to the same age as their parents? In Australia today, nearly one in four children are overweight or obese. Australian parents should be concerned.

This fact sheet was written by the Nutrition & Dietetics Department at HKHS. It is part of our Health Hotline series.

Children's fruit and vegetable consumption has decreased over the past 20 years while their consumption of energy-dense foods such as sweets, chocolates, soft-drinks and take-away food has increased. Their physical activity has also decreased while time spent in sedentary, low-energy activities such as watching television and playing computer games has increased. Backyards are smaller these days and parents are more likely to drive their children around. And with so many different foods to choose from it’s hard to make a healthy choice.

Being overweight or obese means having an excessive amount of body fat. Your GP, paediatrician or a dietitian are the best people to tell you whether your child is a healthy weight.

Childhood obesity has serious consequences for children’s health and wellbeing, including serious health problems and social problems such as teasing and bullying, l ow self-esteem, poor body image, eating disorders and depression. If obesity has existed since early childhood, associated illnesses and health problems are more likely to occur in adulthood. Once children are overweight it is much harder for them to return to a healthy weight so prevention by maintaining a healthy weight is best.

Help your child achieve and maintain a healthy weight

You can help your child achieve and maintain a healthy weight by balancing the amount they eat and drink with the energy their body needs to function, grow and exercise. There are three main ways to prevent overweight and obesity in your child:

• Promote healthy eating at home: keep only nutritious everyday foods in the house; eat more fruit and vegetables, drink more water and avoid or limit high fat or sugary foods; talk to your children about health and nutrition - remember that children do as you do, so be a good role model for an active lifestyle and healthy eating patterns.
• Develop an active family lifestyle: you don’t have to engage in strenuous exercise or sports all the time. You can also make exercise a fun part of your child’s daily routine by walking to school or sport, kicking a football around or taking stairs instead of lifts or escalators. Getting active is a great way to spend positive family time together.
• Limit low-energy activities: make some family rules setting boundaries on the amount of time children spend watching TV or playing games on the computer.

Consult your local doctor, paediatrician or a dietitian if you are concerned about your child’s weight, but first try being smart about what food you buy and tell your children more often, “It’s time to play outside now!”.

Printable version

Related links:

• Printable version
• 'Veg-out' for health
• Healthy lifestyle- water
• Nutrition & Dietetics Department
• Fact sheets