A dangerous combination of abdominal obesity and weak muscles occurs already in children of primary school age. This is shown by a new Swedish study.
– When I saw the results, my jaw almost dropped. Some of the children were so weak that they had difficulty getting up from a chairsays Mai-Lis Hellénius, professor at Karolinska Institutet and one of the researchers behind the study.
The combination of abdominal obesity and weak muscle strength, known as “sarcopenic obesity”, is a strong risk factor for, among other things, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, but also other public health diseases.
The phenomenon has previously been studied mainly in adults and the elderly in Sweden. But for the first time, a new Swedish study now shows that the dangerous combination already occurs in children as young as eight.
– Our findings show that sarcopenic obesity, which we previously mostly saw in adults, is now also found in children of primary school age. It is a very worrying development, says Mai-Lis Hellénius, professor at Karolinska Institutet and one of the researchers behind the study.
The researcher: “Dropped my chin”
In the study that thus examined the connection between abdominal obesity and muscle strength, 67 families with eight-year-old children were included. The results showed a clear connection – the more abdominal obesity, the worse the strength in the legs.
– When I saw the results, I almost dropped my jaw. Some of the children were so weak that they had difficulty getting up from a chair. It is very ominous that we can see this already in eight-year-olds, says Mai-Lis Hellénius.
– It is our duty as adults to act. In order to reverse the trend, efforts are required in the form of investments in physical activity and healthier eating habits, she continues.
Four of the 30 girls and 13 of the 37 boys in the study had abdominal obesity.
The study also showed a connection between weak muscles in the parents and in the children. If the parents had weak leg muscles, so did the children, according to the study.
“Serious challenge for public health”
The study, which was financed by the Heart and Lung Foundation and Norhedsstiftelsen, is published in the journal Acta Paediatrica.
More than one in five children of middle and high school age is overweight or obese (obesity), according to the Public Health Agency.
In the last three decades, the proportion of 11–15-year-olds in Sweden who are overweight or obese has quadrupled. According to the WHO, childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges in the world.