In anew study researchers have claimed that a lack of exercise can not be blamed for increased levels of childhood obesity. But physical inactivity seems to be the result of chubbiness, not its reason according to report of the new study.
The root cause of gain in weight in kids is overfeeding by parents and children have habit of eating more junk food. To target nutrition more willingly than exercise is the best way to provide help to obese kids lose weight, said the report.
In a study survey The EarlyBird team pursued more than two hundred kids in Plymouth over three years, observing their fat and physical activity level at regular intervals. They found that level of fat had an effect on exercise, but that varying physical activity did not escort to any changes in obesity.
Overweight kids might think about their body unconstructively, falling back from sports and exercise as a result. Physical indolence seems to be the result of obesity rather than its cause. This reverse causality may explain why efforts to tackle childhood obesity by promoting physical activity have been largely ineffective, suggested the paper, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
The wider health benefits of exercise for children must not be ignored, cautioned Dr David Haslam, from the National Obesity Forum. He told BBC that The EarlyBird team really forced them to question their comfortable assumptions regarding childhood obesity. As clinicians they must nod reverently at their work, learn lessons from it, and reappraise their own practices accordingly.
Childhood obesity is much easier to prevent than to fix all the health problems that a generation is going to have to endure because of it. The first step has to be the education of parents. They need to be told the importance of breast feeding, exercise and proper eating habits. They also need to be introduced to low fat snack foods and exactly what proper nutrition for their children entails. In cases where heredity is the problem they need to know how to build self esteem in their children and deal with psychological problems as they arise.