In Brazil, 10% of children up to 5 years old are overweight. 7% are overweight and 3% are already obese. In addition, a fifth of children (18.6%) in this age group are in an overweight risk zone.
The research report highlights that excess weight can harm child growth and development, and can even lead to the occurrence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular problems, diabetes, hypertension and cancer.
The data are part of an unprecedented survey commissioned by the Ministry of Health and released this Monday (7) by the National Child Food and Nutrition Study (ENANI-2019).
The research, referring to the year 2019, was coordinated by the Instituto de Nutrição Josué de Castro, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), in partnership with Fiocruz, University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and the Federal University Fluminense (UFF), and evaluated 14,558 children and 12,155 biological mothers in 12,524 Brazilian households, in 123 municipalities in 26 states and in the Federal District.
Overweight occurs when a child is above what would be considered adequate or healthy for their age, sex, or size. Obesity, on the other hand, is when a person has an even more excessive amount of body fat, which, according to the Ministry of Health, is more likely to impact health as a whole.
The scenario of overweight in children in Brazil grew from 6.6% in 2006 to the 10% observed in 2019. It was also identified that 58.5% of biological mothers of children up to five years old are overweight. In 2006, this rate was 43%. The prevalence of overweight among them is 32.2% and that of obesity is 26.3%.
According to Gilberto Kac, research coordinator and full member of the Josué de Castro Nutrition Institute at UFRJ, the data are alarming and reflect bad eating habits in the country.
“Many factors contribute to this scenario. The results of the ENANI-2019 show that, in general, the diet of Brazilian children is far from the recommendations of the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO). The research shows that 80% of Brazilian children up to 5 years old consume ultra-processed foods, such as cookies, instant flour, soft drinks and sugary drinks, among other products harmful to health. The practice is common even among babies under 2 years old, which can have lifelong consequences, such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular problems”, explains Kac.
The survey also showed that 7% of Brazilian children up to 5 years old are underweight for their age, which, according to Kac, may be linked to food insecurity in the country.
“The low height for age shows that these children suffered restrictions that hampered their growth and development. This condition may be due to recurrent infections and is related to low consumption of nutrients, possibly associated with food insecurity. The prevalence of the indicator decreases as the age group of children increases, which suggests that the situation has worsened in recent years”, he explained.
According to the released data, “the prevalence of low height for age is 9% among babies aged 0 to 11 months and 10.2% among those aged 12 to 23 months. The frequency of the problem is lower in children born up to 2016: 6.5% in the age group of 2 to 3 years, 5.8% between 3 and 4 years and 3.4% between 4 and 5 years.
The research results will be used to define public health policies.
Source: CNN Brasil
