A new Swedish study has linked childhood obesity, in that country, with gender. According to research conducted at Sweden’s Uppsala University, 4-year-old girls were six times as likely to be obese than they were 20 years ago. The researchers have concluded that recent lifestyle chances are the cause for much of the obesity they are currently seeing. However, they added, “It is difficult to say what that is.”
The findings, published April’s issue of Acta Paeditrica, show that in 1982, 1% of all 4-year-olds were obese. By 2002, 2% of boys and 6% of girls were considered obese. The differences were also noted in 10-year-olds. The percentage of girls who were considered overweight was also higher for girls than boys- 20% and 18% respectively.
Carl-Erik Flodmark, head of the child obesity center at Malmo University Hospital, speculated that “One biological explanation could be that boys are more active, and when the calorie load increases, maybe girls are more affected.” As the mother of a male offspring, I can certainly tell tell you that he is extremely active. At any given moment he’s trying to stand on his head, running in circles or climbing on the furniture. His energy level is so high if I could bottle and sale it I could make millions! And although his activity level sometimes makes me exhausted just watching him, I realize that as a parent it is essential that I allow him to work off that bottled up energy. And in doing so he’s working off calories. In the past few years he’s gained just a few pounds as he’s continued to grow taller.
Flodmark also remarked that the research finding could possibly be skewed because only children from one part of Sweden were studied. He added, however, that other studies revealed similar findings.
Sweden is not alone in its childhood obesity problem. It’s becoming a worldwide epidemic. Obese children often grow up to be obese adults. In the United States, recent figures show that 71 % of men and two-thirds of women are overweight. Approximately one-third of the United States adult population is considered obese. We have several great blogs on childhood obesity at families.com. Here are a few recent ones:
Schools Battle Childhood Obesity
Shaq Takes A Shot At Helping Overweight Kids