Home » Health » More and more overweight children – in the Rottweil district the trend is downward

More and more overweight children – in the Rottweil district the trend is downward

Every seventh child in Germany is too fat or pathologically overweight. Too little exercise, too much smartphone and the like and a diet that is too high in fat: Many people can’t shake off the pounds even in old age.

According to an evaluation by the AOK Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg, 448 children under the age of twelve in the Rottweil, Tuttlingen and Schwarzwald-Baar districts were under medical treatment for obesity, around 90 children more than five years ago. Heidrun Zeller-Thorn, nutritionist at the AOK Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg advises parents to get help early on.

In the Rottweil district alone, 151 AOK-insured children up to 12 years of age were receiving medical treatment for obesity – pathological overweight – in 2018. Four years earlier there were 142 boys and girls who were roughly equally affected.

The comparative values ​​from the region and from the Ländle confirm the trend. In 2018, 10,870 children were counted in Baden-Württemberg (2014: 8,743). “In the AOK statistics, we can only record children who were actually treated. We are certainly dealing with a high number of unreported cases, ”Zeller-Thorn estimates. The trend in the Rottweil district is down slightly: 1.8 percent of children were affected in 2014 and 1.6 percent in 2018.

The health insurance company KKH confirms this. According to the KKH report, the number of children and adolescents up to 18 years of age who are extremely overweight has increased by around a quarter nationwide from 2009 to 2019 (24 percent). This means that more than 11,000 KKH ​​insured persons up to the age of 18 were diagnosed with obesity, as a current data collection by the health insurance company shows.

In a gender comparison, the development is particularly alarming among boys. For example, the increase among 15 to 18 year-olds was three and a half times as high as among girls of the same age (35 to 10 percent). The rate of increase of 32 percent is similarly high for 6 to 10 year old boys.

Children and young people are less and less active today, the AOK also notes. An additional problem: young people who already tend to be overweight like to sit alone for hours in front of the television or computer and snack on foods that contain fat and sugar. “My first recommendation for weight problems in children as well as adults is always: incorporate more exercise into everyday life,” says nutrition expert Zeller-Thorn. Parents play a particularly important role in prevention. “As parents, rediscover the fun of sport and exercise together with their children. Choose recreational activities that involve physical activity that everyone can enjoy. And above all: go ahead as parents. ”The same applies to eating and drinking behavior.

The nutrition experts at AOK Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg offer support to those affected. They advise and support parents and their children with a suitable and individual diet change.

The aim is a consistent and sustained reduction in obesity. Because the problem is not primarily losing weight, but the permanent change in eating behavior and the stabilization of weight. If it is not possible to bring the weight to a normal level in childhood, it becomes even more difficult in adulthood.

Chocolate, gummy bears and chips, French fries and high-sugar soft drinks, plus ever larger portions: “Wrong, that is, high-fat and high-calorie diet is one of the main causes of obesity in children,” explains KKH nutritionist Dr. Anja Luci. “It is particularly tricky when unhealthy food is accompanied by binge eating out of frustration or anger at school.” During the Corona crisis, the problem of malnutrition in many families worsened. Between homeschooling, home office and childcare, parents had little time for healthy cooking, so that frozen meals or pizza from the delivery service often ended up on the plate, which put extra pounds on the hips.

Cause number 2 for the fact that more and more children weigh way too many kilos: lack of exercise. According to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 80 percent of school-age children exercise too little. It should be 60 minutes a day – moderate to strenuous – in addition to sports, everyday activities. But only a minority can do that. “Today’s world of children encourages inactivity,” says Anja Luci. “Their parents often drive them to school by car, they sit a lot in class and at home with schoolwork.” The Corona lockdown has accelerated that. School sports and exercise during the breaks were omitted, as was sports in clubs. Using smartphones and PCs for hours on end also contributes to the fact that children prefer to chat, play and post instead of cycling or playing outside with their peers.

“It is important for us as a health insurance company to raise awareness of obesity and its possible consequences in parents and children,” says the nutrition expert. In addition to the body, the soul of very overweight children is usually also damaged. Being teased and stigmatized because of obesity is a serious drain on children’s self-esteem and can cause anxiety and depression. As a result, they resort to fattening food again. Affected children and their parents can often only escape this seemingly hopeless situation with outside help. When choosing therapy, there are three pillars to get obesity under control: a targeted change in diet to low-fat, vitamin-rich whole foods, regular strength and endurance sports and behavioral training. “Fundamentally changing your lifestyle is an act of strength that demands a lot of patience and perseverance from both children and parents. But this is the only way to break the vicious circle, stabilize health and increase quality of life over the long term, ”Anja Luci is convinced.

Did you know?

According to the WHO, the longer babies are breastfed, the more they are protected from obesity. Ideally, they should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.

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