Since childhood, Poles have been eating improperly and moving too little. This is one of the reasons why they live much shorter than, for example, Swedes. Among the reasons for this, overweight and obesity are important, with serious health consequences.
- Polish men live 7 years shorter than Swedes, and in the case of women it is not much better. The cause of, among others is overweight and obese, with serious health consequences
- According to experts, overweight and hypertension are the result of an improper diet and lack of exercise
- 13-year-old boys, who are more obese than they were four years ago, are a particularly vulnerable group
At the conference “Is this an obesity epidemic in Poland? The dynamics of overweight and obesity in the life cycle – results of Polish population studies in children, adolescents and young adults »the results of population studies conducted in 2015-2018 in children, adolescents and young adults (PITNUTS, COSI, HBSC and WOBASZ), including aged from 5 months to 39 years.
– Polish men live 7 years shorter than Swedes, and in the case of women it is not much better. It is even a civilization difference. In addition, in countries where the situation is better than in Poland, it is improving faster than in our country – said prof. Tomasz Zdrojewski, chairman of the Public Health Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Among the reasons for this, overweight and obesity are important, with serious health consequences.
10 percent in Poland have an abnormal body weight. six-month-old infants, but in three-year-olds this percentage rises to 25 percent, and among eight-year-olds – as many as one-third are overweight or obese. However, this percentage drops in adolescents – obesity or overweight affects only 15 percent. of them. There is a clearly marked higher (than among girls) percentage of overweight and obese boys, especially at the age of 13.
There are clearly more overweight thirteen-year-old boys in 2018 than, for example, in 2014. The further they get older, the worse it gets – said conference participants. In the group of 35-39-year-olds, overweight and obesity occur in half of the population, and in men in as much as 70%. cases (39% of women).
Abnormal values of systolic blood pressure, increased blood pressure or hypertension occur in every fifth 8-year-old, and diastolic pressure – in every seventh. Hypertension values are more common in overweight and obese children. Every third Polish 8-year-old has excessive body weight, and boys (32% of whom are affected) – clearly more often than girls (29%).
According to experts, overweight and hypertension are the result of an improper diet and lack of exercise. 17 percent 8-year-olds do not eat breakfast every day, 30 percent children drink sweet drinks at least 4 days a week, 8% eat sweets (biscuits, cookies, donuts) at least 4 days a week. Almost a third (27%) eat sweet snacks (bars, candies, chocolate) at least 4 days a week, and 4% children eat junk food just as often. Three quarters (76 percent) of children do not eat vegetables every day, and 65 percent. – fruit.
As noted by Dr. Joanna Mazur from the Institute of Mother and Child, teenage girls more and more often catch up with boys when it comes to smoking, marijuana and drinking alcohol.
One third of children do not participate in extra-curricular physical activity. 17 percent in their free time they are physically active for less than an hour a day on school days, and 8 percent. – during the weekend.
So what do they do in their spare time? 2% of students spend at least 45 hours on school days watching TV and using electronic media. children, and on weekends – as much as 85 percent. kids. Fortunately, most children sleep at least 9 hours each night on school days.
– Only a quarter of people between 18 and 39 years of age meet the criteria of high physical activity in leisure time, and a negligible percentage of this group has the so-called high communication activity (for example, cycling to work) – said Prof. Wojciech Drygas from the Institute of Cardiology.
Improper diet promotes obesity
As indicated by specialists from the Institute of Mother and Child, an improper diet with excess fat and cholesterol – and at the same time deficiency of vegetables and fruit – promotes obesity. At the same time, the majority of the study population consumed too little vitamin D and folate. We lack calcium and magnesium, and we have an excess of iron. At the same time, the majority of them consider their diet to be correct, which, according to the authors of the research, may result from the patterns acquired in childhood.
The health consequences of obesity, related primarily to an increase in cardiovascular and oncological risk, require urgent development of intervention measures – experts emphasized. – This is a task for many ministries, actions must be adapted to different age groups and genders, focusing on the most vulnerable. For example, 13-year-old boys are such a particularly endangered group – they are more obese than four years ago and we do not know why – said Dr. Anna Fijałkowska from the Institute of Mother and Child.