Obesity and overweight in children is a growing problem. As the research of the Food and Nutrition Institute shows, now every fifth school-age child has a problem with excessive body weight, while four decades ago obesity affected only 10 percent of children.
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Epidemiological data
Poland participates in an international project Health Behaviour School-aged Children (HBSC) examining the health of children. In Poland, the project is coordinated by the Institute of Mother and Child. Such tests are carried out every 4 years. The latest results come from an observation carried out in 2010 and made public in 2012. The body weight of the children is also analyzed in these observations. The criterion are the BMI values related to the percentile grids:
- Body weight deficit BMI
- Normal body weight: BMI ≥ 5 percentile and BMI
- Overweight BMI ≥ 85 percentile and BMI
- Obesity BMI ≥ 95 percentile
The results according to the WHO 2007 reference value for Polish children indicate that:
| 11-12 years | 13-14 years | 15-16 years | 17-18 years | |
| Overweight | 13,8% | 10,6 proc. | 8,6 proc. | 7,8 proc. |
| Obesity | 14,7% | 10,3 proc. | 6,3 proc | 5 proc. |
Different Project ‘Olaf’ run by the Institute “Monument – Children’s Health Center” in the years 2007-2010 indicates that 18,6 percent boys i 14,5 percent little girls has problems with excess body weight. On average, young Poles aged between 7 and 18 they are obese in 20 percent. As the authors point out, most often problems with excess weight appear in children who:
- live in a large city or on a farm,
- have their own room, TV, computer,
- they are only children,
- are driven to school, do not go to school,
- have obese friends or parents.
It was also noticed that family wealth is conducive to weight gain in toddlers. On the other hand, in the case of the highest earners, the problem with body weight was practically non-existent.
It turns out that this is not all the data at our disposal. Food and Nutrition Institute under Swiss – Polish Cooperation Program also analyzed the child population in Poland and indicates that already 22 percent primary and secondary school students is overweight or obese.
Actions taken
In Poland, specific institutions have indicated as one of their goals the promotion of health and the prevention of overweight and obesity in children. Actions should be taken by:
- Ministry of Health: incl. ‘Overweight and Obesity Prevention Program’, established Council for Diet, Physical Activity and Health,
- Ministry of Education: incl. including nutritional education in the core curriculum, implementation of the European project ‘Health Promoting School’,
- Food and Nutrition Institute: incl. monographs for schools ‘Principles of proper nutrition of children and adolescents and tips for a healthy lifestyle’, ‘School lunches taking into account the principles of good hygienic practice and the HACCP system for school meals’ and ‘Charter of nutrition and physical activity for children and adolescents at school’,
- Municipalities: expansion of the sports base, incl. eagles, tourist and sports events,
- school: implementation of the Ministry of National Education programs, screening tests, pro-health projects, e.g. ‘Keep fit’, ‘Vegetables and fruit for free’.
Although it would seem that there are many organizations dealing with the problem of overweight in children and there are many projects, unfortunately it does not bring tangible benefits. The NIK report summarizes the functioning of the above institutions:
The measures taken to prevent these phenomena are not systemic and not sufficiently effective, as evidenced by the growing problem of overweight and obesity in school children and adolescents.
Help your child
Of course, it is good for public activities to be more unified and to function together so that the goal is achieved, but the most important thing is what the child sees at home. It is from parents that it takes over good and bad habits. Therefore, the basic unit that must take care of the health and nutrition of children is rodzina. How to do it? First of all, take care of your nutrition, make sure that your child is eating healthy at home, what is worth putting on a plate and what is not. Remember to:
- the child had access to fresh vegetables and fruit every day, which will be eaten with meals or as snacks.
- give your child a wholesome breakfast every day, e.g. oatmeal or millet with milk, fruit, seeds, nuts or a sandwich made of wholemeal bread (NOTE sweet breakfast crisps are not nutritious),
- prepare a hot meal every day that you will eat together with the whole family, building mutual relationships and teaching through a good example of proper nutrition,
- do not eat in front of the TV or computer, because then the child eats automatically, without focusing on the meal, which will eat more than he needs,
- do not give children sweets as a snack, this should be fruit, vegetables or a milk drink,
- take care of a variety of diet.
The rules could be multiplied and enumerated endlessly. We have already written about the ’10 commandments of a healthy family’, ‘6 rules of feeding school children’ and that ‘Children are getting fat – they will live 5 years shorter than their parents!’. It is worth coming back to this and preparing your own Family Health Decalogue to hang it in a visible place.
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