Overweight children aged from 9 to 17 years eat fewer calories than kids of normal weight in the same age group, researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine reported in the journal Pediatrics. The authors added that the reverse occurs in children aged 8 years and younger – the overweight/obese kids eat more than their peers.

In this study, the researchers explain why older overweight kids consume fewer calories.

Asheley Cockrell Skinner, PhD., said that overweight children tend to stay overweight. For most kids, obesity starts off as a result of overeating. However, as they get older, their obesity continues, even though their calorie intake is not high for their height and age.

Skinner said:

“One reason this makes sense is because we know overweight children are less active than healthy weight kids. Additionally, this is in line with other research that obesity is not a simple matter of overweight people eating more – the body is complex in how it reacts to amount of food eaten and amount of activity.”

The authors believe that their findings should encourage health care professionals and dieticians to seek out different strategies for children when aiming for bodyweight control, depending on their age group.

Skinner added:

“It makes sense for early childhood interventions to focus specifically on caloric intake, while for those in later childhood or adolescence the focus should instead be on increasing physical activity, since overweight children tend to be less active.

Even though reducing calories would likely result in weight loss for children, it’s not a matter of wanting them to eat more like healthy weight kids – they would actually have to eat much less than their peers, which can be a very difficult prospect for children and, especially, adolescents.

(These findings) have significant implications for interventions aimed at preventing and treating childhood obesity.”

There have been literally hundreds of studies on childhood obesity over the last twenty years. Researchers from the DAA (Dietitians Association of Australia) found that kids who eat meals with their families regularly consumed healthier foods and were less likely to be obese.

Childhood obesity has become a serious public health problem in the United States. Almost one third of all Americans aged 18 or younger are overweight/obese today – that’s over 23 million children and adolescents.

From 1980 to 2010, obesity rates in the USA:

  • Rose from 5% to 12.4% among 2 to 5 year-olds
  • Rose from 6.5% to 17% among 6 to 11 year olds
  • Rose from 5% to 17.6% among 12 to 19 year olds

Preventing childhood obesity is crucial, experts say, because children develop habits which persist into adulthood. A 4-year-old child who is obese is considerably more likely to become an obese adult than other kids of the same age. An obese teenager has an 80% probability of becoming an obese adult.

US health authorities say that if the increase in childhood obesity cannot be reversed, the country is in danger of raising the first generation of kids who will probably have shorter lifespans than the generations which preceded them. Recent studies, however, have shown that obesity rates among US children appear to have remained constant over the last few years.

Written by Christian Nordqvist