About Childhood Obesity

Obesity does not simply mean weighing too much; it refers to a state in which the number of fat cells increases or their size becomes larger, causing an excessive amount of fat to accumulate in the subcutaneous layer and body tissues. Therefore, if an imbalance in energy expenditure due to excessive calorie intake and lack of exercise occurs during periods when body fat normally increases—before age 1, between ages 5 and 6, and during puberty—excess calories are stored as body fat, and childhood obesity occurs most often.

With recent social and economic development, people’s living standards have improved and lifestyles have changed, leading to increased consumption of high-fat, high-calorie foods as convenience foods such as snacks, snack foods, fast food, and beverages have become widespread.

In addition, because children use cars when going to and from school and continue attending art academies, music academies, English academies, and the like after school, they come home late in the evening and have no time to exercise. Even when they do have free time, they spend most of it on indoor entertainment such as electronic games, television, and computers, so opportunities to run, play, and expend energy are reduced. As a result, lack of exercise has become more pronounced, and childhood obesity has increased significantly in recent years.

According to data from the Seoul School Health Office (trends in the increase of obese children over the past 18 years), over the past 18 years the rate increased 6.4-fold for elementary school boys (from 3.6% in 1979 to 23.0% in 1996), 4.7-fold for elementary school girls (from 3.3% in 1979 to 15.5% in 1996), 3.0-fold for middle and high school boys (from 5.2% in 1979 to 15.4% in 1996), and 2.4-fold for middle and high school girls (from 6.3% in 1979 to 15.0% in 1996).

A notable point is that boys showed a higher rate of increase than girls, and elementary school-age children showed a higher rate of increase than middle and high school-age children. Another important fact is that among obese children, the proportion of severely obese children whose weight is more than 50% above standard weight is also increasing. Childhood obesity, like adult obesity, can lead to adult diseases such as hyperlipidemia, fatty liver, high blood pressure, and diabetes at an early age. In particular, among severely obese children (obesity level 150% or higher), more than 78% have at least one complication, such as hyperlipidemia (61%), fatty liver (38%), high blood pressure (7%), or diabetes (03.%). More than half go on to become obese adults, so the problem is serious. Because childhood obesity requires a healthy diet and an active lifestyle throughout life, it is regarded as a chronic disease that is difficult to treat.

So far, I have explained childhood obesity.

In the next installment, we will look at the causes of childhood obesity.

Source: Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, National Health Information Portal