Researchers at University College London have been studying genes and their role in childhood obesity. Their study involved looking at different genetic variants in pairs of twins, ages four and ten. Body-mass index was also studied for kids of both ages. According to their research, the genetic variants rose over the years, growing from 43% in children of age 4 to 82% in children of age 10. These results show that "genetic predisposition to obesity is increasingly expressed throughout childhood," co-leader Clare Llewellyn states.This study brings hope that childhood obesity may be able to be reduced if intervention occurs at a young enough age. The link below lists some tips for overweight children, that will help with their weight-loss goals.
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/raising-fit-kids/move/kids-exercise-tips
Obesity is a very serious problem and the more we can understand about the mechanisms, the better chance we have at hopefully putting an end to it. Obese children are in for a tough life, but hopefully the obesity can be caught young enough and stopped. I have never had to deal with the problems associated with obesity and hopefully through research and good genetics my children won't have those problems either.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the US, obesity is an issue that should be addressed especially in the early phases of an individual's lifestyle. I think that as parents, they have more control over preventing and taking extra steps to ensure that their children avoid obesity and carry out a healthier life style. Especially because obesity can lead to potential health risks such as diseases and illnesses.
ReplyDeleteFrom experience, I can say that "curing obesity" is not as easy as most think. While yes, some children's diets are not properly supervised, most are, and it still doesn't make a difference. Growing up, I was always overweight, and my diet included many fruits and vegetables and healthy servings of the proper food groups; still, it was just no use. There is much more than meets the eye when it comes to this disease, and hopefully the more testing that is done genetically, the closer we will come to being able to beat it.
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