Combating Childhood Obesity Involves the Entire Family

The prevalence of childhood obesity in Canadians has more than doubled in the last 40 years, and health practitioners say the solution to combating weight gain starts with the family unit.

On Monday, the Canadian Task Force on Health Prevention issued a set of guidelines on the prevention and management of childhood obesity. With one in three children classified as either overweight or obese in Canada, these guidelines focus on the importance of growth monitoring via height, weight, and body mass index, as well as the role of primary health care practitioners and the family unit.

“Child obesity is one of Canada’s top health challenges. Primary care doctors and health care practitioners must play a prominent role in the broad, multi-sectoral effort to stabilize the current obesity trends,” said Dr. Patricia Parkin, chair of the Task Force child obesity working group. “In order to encourage healthy growth patterns it is essential that primary care practitioners regularly monitor growth and have an open dialogue with families. If the child demonstrates unhealthy trends in their growth pattern, it is important that the recommended course of action is tailored to the individual needs and values of each family, especially in helping to find the right exercise, diet and lifestyle strategies."

“The child obesity challenge requires broad involvement across all sectors of society,” said Dr. Paula Brauer, member of the Task Force child obesity working group. “In terms of primary care practitioners, more support and dedicated research is needed to determine exactly how they can best support families and children. In particular, more randomized control trials (RCT) studies are needed. Considering the importance of the issue the evidence is surprisingly limited.”

Aside from facilitating open dialogue within the family unit and monitoring growth, the Task Force makes several other recommendations which aim to solve the problem at its source rather than quick solutions such as surgery.

For example, one such recommendation is to provide structured behavioural interventions aimed at healthy weight management for obese children and youth aged 2-17.

Behavioural interventions refers to productive group sessions centred on increased exercise, lifestyle changes, and diet. The entire family is expected to participate in these sessions, as the effectiveness of the interventions relies heavily on the commitment and motivation of the family unit.

“In order for interventions to be successful, the family must be motivated to make lifestyle changes and must commit the time required to make those changes. Unlike pharmacological treatments that can have adverse effects, such as gastrointestinal problems, behavioural interventions carry no identifiable risks,” read the Task Force’s report.

To read the entire report and recommendations, click here.

The Canadian Task Force on Prevention Health Care has been established to develop clinical practice guidelines that support primary care providers in delivering preventative care.