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The successive confinements got the better of the weight of the children. According to a study carried out in Val-de-Marne, the proportion of overweight and obese children has indeed increased sharply in 2020 and 2021.
The health crisis has not only affected our health or our minds – it has also sent obesity rates skyrocketing in children. This is at least what a study published Tuesday, April 26 in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BEH) released by the Public Health Agency France reveals.
11.2% overweight children
According to this survey, conducted across an entire department, Val-de-Marne, the finding is clear: in three school years, the number of obese children has doubled compared to the 2018-2019 school year. .
To arrive at these results, the department’s maternal and child protection (PMI) research services relied on data from health check-ups in nursery schools (BSEM), and more specifically of children attending middle school.
In total, the PMI collected and analyzed data from 48,119 children, over three successive years, with an average age of 4.54 years.
Result: the study shows that the proportion of overweight and obese children increases significantly in 2020-2021:
“In 2018-2019, we have 8.6% of overweight children. In 2020-2021, we have 11.2%. In 2018, we have 2.8% of children with obesity“, specifies at the microphone of Europe 1 the head of the study Marie-Laure Baranne, head of the study department at the PMI of Val-de-Marne.
Girls seem to be the most impacted, according to the expert: “Two risk factors have been identified for the increase in overweight and obesity in these children: being a girl and being in a school in a priority and priority plus education zone..
Another interesting data: the “Z-score”. This indicator, which makes it possible to measure the difference in corpulence in children with respect to the average value, also increases considerably. In 2018-2019, the average is 0.20, while in 2020-2021 it increases to 0.35.
The head of the research department at the PMI nevertheless wants to be reassuring: the curve can be reversed if “good habits” are taken quickly.
In France, childhood obesity affects 16% of boys and 18% of girls: “figures that have been more or less stable for the past ten years”, according to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). But this excessive weight gain exposes children to many diseases – cardiovascular, metabolic, articular, respiratory – and increases the risk of premature death in adulthood.
The probability that a child will remain obese in adulthood is also quite high: it varies according to studies from 20% to 50% before puberty, and from 50% to 70% after puberty.
To prevent obesity, health experts recommend awakening in children the desire to “eat well” rather than forcing them to eat a balanced diet. Thus, cooking and shopping with the child, presenting the dishes well, understanding his food refusals, playing with the textures of the food and celebrating the meal in a joyful way are all tricks allowing the child to associate, healthy way, food and fun.
Moving is one of the other key levers for maintaining a healthy weight. Some good reflexes can thus be adopted on a daily basis: walking or cycling on the way to school, climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, finding fun physical activities in addition to sports hours at school.
Finally, regular monitoring of the child’s corpulence curves by a pediatrician or a general practitioner is essential.