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Canada's facing an obesity 'epidemic' among children, expert says
TORONTO (CP) - Obesity is an "epidemic" among Canada's children, and we have one of the world's worst records in the battle of the childhood bulge, says a leading expert on childhood obesity.
"In every province in the country, this is increasing," said Mark Tremblay, dean of kinesiology at the University of Saskatchewan, whose research on childhood obesity is widely cited by Health Canada and other health policy makers.
"The take-home message is the problem is getting worse very, very quickly," he said.
The obesity problem, Tremblay says, is mostly due to Canada's waning emphasis on physical education, a lack of grassroots sports development, too many fast-food options at our fingertips, and not enough emphasis on alternate transportation like cycling.
Not to mention the new era of video and computer games, which may explain why obesity among boys is increasing faster than among girls in Canada and many other countries, Tremblay said.
Tremblay was to present his findings Friday at the Girls In/Action conference, a research symposium about youth inactivity, gender and health hosted by the University of Toronto.
Tremblay says the prevalence of childhood obesity in Canada increased from two per cent in 1981, to between 10 and 15 per cent in 1996.
"Generally speaking the problem is less pronounced in B.C. and Alberta, and most pronounced in Atlantic Canada," he said.
Tremblay used data to compare the prevalence of childhood obesity in Canada, Scotland, England and Spain. While all of the countries had comparable rates in the early 1980s, Canada's rates rose by leaps and bounds by the late 1990s.
Now the prevalence of childhood obesity in Canada is double that of those countries, and is similar to rates in the United States.
That shouldn't be surprising, Tremblay said.
"The issues we have, the environment we live in is very, very similar," he said, referring to insufficient physical education programs, and unlimited access to good tasting, high fat, nutritionally bankrupt food.
A lack of solid, comparable data makes it hard to know for sure how bad the obesity problem is for Canadian kids. Estimates on the prevalence of obesity among Canadian children vary widely, depending on whether a study is based on self-reports or objective measures, and on what measure of obesity is used, Tremblay said.
Current estimates may be on the conservative side, Tremblay said, because some studies are based on people reporting their own heights and weights, and people - especially girls - tend to "fudge" those numbers, Tremblay said.
One thing all of the stats have in common is that childhood obesity is on the rise, Tremblay said.
And with increases in obesity rates, there are more cases of chronic diseases - like Type II diabetes and hypertension - that were once thought to be only afflictions for adults.
"I don't think it's inconceivable that we're going to see mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, lining up together for bypass surgery. That we're going to have a generation leap in the acceleration of chronic disease," Tremblay said.
A big health concern is the finding that obese children - and especially obese teens - have a greater chance of becoming overweight adults, Tremblay said.
"Quite often that's a manifestation of the environment they live in as well," he said, referring to children who have obese parents, and in turn are affected by their genetics and lifestyle.
Among adults, obesity is cited as a risk factor for deadly chronic illnesses including hypertension, heart disease, Type II diabetes and respiratory illnesses, according to Health Canada.
Just as harmful can be the social and psychological consequences of being fat, especially in North America where there is strong cultural prejudice against obese people and an obsession with being thin.
Obese children may endure teasing and harassment by other kids, or be treated as stupid or inferior by teachers or other adults, according to Health Canada.
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