Impact of nutrition education on the lifestyle pattern and dietary practices of obese children

Childhood obesity is one among the primary priority programes of World Health Organization and is the most serious public health challenge of the twenty first century. The problem is global and is steadily affecting many low and middle income countries, particularly in the urban settings. The present study was conducted in selected schools of Kottayam district of Kerala to explore the association of childhood obesity with socio economic status, lifestyle pattern and dietary habits. A total of 720 children both male and female were selected for the study. Of these 345 were from government school and 375 were from public schools. A well framed questionnaire was distributed to elicit details on demographic profile, life style and food consumption pattern. Based on Body Mass Index (BMI) childhood obesity was in the order of three percent each in high income and middle income and two percent in low income groups. Most of the subjects had a family history of obesity. Obese population had the habit of consuming junk foods while watching television. So it was concluded that the increasing trend of the modern day epidemic of overweight and obesity in children calls for immediate action to reduce the incidence through appropriate nutrition intervention programmes involving school children, their parents and school authorities. If immediate measures are not taken the condition can lead to serious problems beyond repair.