Are you over 30 years old? If so, how many obese or overweight children do you remember in your classroom? One of 10? Two in the whole room, maybe? I ask about thirty because it is my closest reference. In my last two years of primary school, the ones I attended in Culiacán, I remember only three with these characteristics: two girls and a boy.
That was the constant in my elementary, middle school and high school years: boys and girls as in the ‘chavo’ classroom, all thin or of medium complexion and one or two chubby, but yes, none as ‘nnoño’. Today that does not go any more, the constant at present is, in elementary schools, of at least three chubby boys for every 10 students.
Health systems are threatened by adults with highly prevalent diseases such as diabetes, cancer or heart disease, but that seems like a joke compared to the threat posed by that crowd that today wears shorts and runs their muddy fingers across the street. Tablet, which stopped moving and became fragile at the time that coincided with sedentary modernity: children.
Overweight and obesity are estimated to reduce the GDP of countries affiliated to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) by an average of 3.3 percent. Currently 60 percent of the adult inhabitants of OECD countries are overweight. In 34 of the 36 countries of the organization, more than 50 percent of the population is overweight and one in four people is obese.
Childhood obesity is a real challenge for the Mexican government, and it is growing more and more. In fact, it will be the biggest health challenge and one of the biggest for the country’s economy in the coming decades.
Genetics count, habits are heritable
“Like a stick, like a splinter”, says the saying that refers to the acquisition, either by learning or by inheritance, of characteristics similar to those of parents or the environment in which a person is formed. Although obesity has been linked to genetics, the fact that the latter is used as justifying cause is a double-edged sword.
Genetics is not a controllable condition in individuals, we are born with it and each person has their own unique configuration, absolutely intrinsic. So blaming genetics is a common practice, similar to blaming the thyroid or fluid retention. This leads to accepting the problem and taking it out of our reach with ideas such as ‘my problem is inherited, there is little I can do to change it’.
The most in-depth studies on the incidence of genetics in the development of obesity indicate that there may be mutations in the melanocortin receptor 4 (MC4R), the gene associated with mass and obesity, and alterations in enzymes such as leptin, its receptor, proopiomelanocortin and protein convertase, but this only accounts for 1 percent of cases.
Furthermore, a study conducted by Rutgers University reveals that maternal overnutrition is a risk factor for pregnancy complications and is increasingly associated with adverse childhood outcomes, such as a greater propensity for obesity and metabolic diseases. However, there is emerging evidence that parental lifestyle factors before and at the time of conception have a powerful impact on the health of the offspring for more than one generation.
Maternal and paternal obesity before conception alters the molecular composition of oocytes and sperm, which may partly escape epigenetic reprogramming at fertilization, altering the developmental trajectory of the resulting embryo and ultimately increasing the incidence of obesity and metabolic disorders in offspring.
The spitting image of parents
Although genetics conditions certain individuals to have a greater challenge when it comes to controlling body fat indices, obesity is not limited to that. Habits and environment are very important factors to control as well, mainly in parents.
Another form of non-genetic inheritance is the one in the example. What we do or do not do is an important part in shaping the character and conduct of minors.
Studies reveal that the proportion of overweight minors decreases as the adult’s educational level is higher. Likewise, the number of underweight minors increases slightly with the increase in the adult’s educational level. In general, minors perform physical activity more frequently than adults (38.1 percent of sedentary adults versus 13.7 percent of minors) and this frequency increases as the adult’s educational level is higher.
Minors tend to replicate the lifestyle of adults, which could make adults the target of public policies associated with the fight against obesity: it is correct to educate children, inform them, restrict them; but it is also important to guide the bearers of the example and that they end up influencing the minors around them.
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