Science & Technology, Australia (Commonwealth Union) – Obesity is a chronic condition that occurs when an individual has excess body fat, which can have a significant impact on their overall health. It is a serious health problem that affects millions of people worldwide and has been linked to various diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Obesity is caused by an imbalance between the calories consumed and those expended. This means that consuming more calories than the body needs for energy, and not burning them off through physical activity, can lead to an increase in body weight. Some of the factors that contribute to obesity include genetics, metabolism, diet, physical activity, and the environment.
Recent research for the 1st time mapping complex pathways that lead to obesity in childhood has revealed that diet and exercise programs alone will not lower obesity rates.
The study that was coordinated by the University of Sydney, Charles Perkins Centre discovering that children whose parents were unable to complete high school and who have social disadvantages, had an increased chance of being impacted by overweight or obesity in mid-adolescence. High school completion was dominant indicator for the socio-economic status.
Researchers indicated that these factors were ‘on ramps’ moving down to impact the body mass index (BMI) of parents, in turn giving instant lifestyle effects on a child’s risk of becoming obese.
Paediatrician Professor Louise Baur of the University of Sydney gave reasons to why most present public health policies to block childhood obesity have had partial success.
“We tend to ignore the root causes of childhood obesity which include social disadvantage, and of course, this is not something parents or children choose for themselves,” explained Professor Baur, the co-author of the University of Sydney, Charles Perkins Centre.
Other striking results from the study consist of how various drivers of obesity playing out at different life stages, particularly the influence of free time activity after the individual is 8 years old.
There were further various influences on the way free time is utilized and influenced for boys versus girls. For boys, increased electronic gaming resulted in less active free time. For girls, improved sleep quality resulted in more sleep time and an increase in active free time.
Childhood obesity takes place when a child is significantly overweight in relation to age and height. This may result in an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, psychological effects and that may even result in premature death.
The researchers further indicated that Australia, has one in four school-aged children and adolescents impacted by overweight or obesity, with one in twelve impacted by obesity. It had increased frequency in those residing in regional and remote areas, individuals from poorer socioeconomic areas, individuals from single parent families together with those having a disability.
The findings were obtained data from ‘Growing up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Children in Australia,’ a nationally representative sample with more than 10,000 Children in Australia.
The team of leading scientists and clinicians, collaborating the fields of data science, biology, pediatrics along with public health, took nearly 2 years applying the Bayesian network modelling as well as informed analysis to resolve a complex web of on-ramps and causal factors, where the majority interplay.
Senior author Professor Sally Cripps of the University of Technology Sydney stated that the knowledge obtained from this research is important for policy makers progressing and could not have been achieved in the absence of this diverse skill-set.
Lead author and statistician Wanchuang Zhu, of the University of Technology Sydney as well as an affiliate of the Charles Perkins Centre says “To our knowledge this is first time anyone has used the advanced statistical network modelling to analyse the complex factors that lead to childhood obesity. It provides us with a much more complete picture.”
