A cardiologist on Sunday urged media for the largest awareness campaign to deal with a high rate of obesity among youngsters which is putting them at risk of developing early heart disease and diabetes at a younger age which will further rise in the coming years if current lifestyle trends continue.
“A number of young people aged 19 to 25 years are developing early age heart diseases, diabetes, apart from hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and many harmonic issues because of obesity”, renowned Cardiologist General Dr AzharMahmoodKayani said while talking to news channel.
“We have to bind our schools and colleges to increase sports time and make it mandatory for children to take part in sports activities if we want to save them from being obese in the future”, he added. Parents must ensure that screen time should be cut down to less than 60 minutes per day, he said, adding, kids have become addicted to it because of the social media use in our lives. The major reason for the rise of obesity among children in recent times is multifaceted, he said, adding, Childhood obesity is now a growing public health concern in low and middle-income countries, where early prevention is essential.
Youngsters should be engaged in daily physical activity along with a healthy, balanced diet full of proteins and vitamins,” he added. Replying to a question, he said consumption of sugary foods, high-fat foods, especially the ones high in saturated fats and trans fats and salted snacks and fizzy drinks are one of the major causes of childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity is dangerous since it tends to make the weight gain permanent, leading to cardiovascular diseases. But you can make some simple changes in your child’s routine to fight obesity.
It may not just be your kids who are to blame if they are overweight. Obesity can happen due to a lot a causes, most of which are often easily ignored by us. It can make your child extremely conscious of his body image, lead to depression and serious health problems later in life. This includes diabetes, liver failure and heart diseases. In India, 22% children between the age groups of 5-19 are obese or seriously overweight. That is over 14 million children. But childhood obesity can be controlled and prevented if you know what exactly to target.
