Dietary habits and obesity in European children

Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: February 22, 2018 | Revision accepted: May 22, 2018

Results from the IDEFICS/I.Family cohort¹

Introduction

In recent years it has been shown that differences in diet contribute significantly to health inequality in Europe and that poor diet is one of the main causes of the overall disease burden [2]. Worldwide, dietary-related diseases have become a major concern for healthcare systems and caused a loss of over 56 million years of healthy life for Europeans in 2000 only [3]. One particularly troubling aspect of this is the global increase in obese children and adolescents: if the current trend continues to 2022, there will be for the first time more obese than underweight children and adolescents worldwide. On a global scale the number of obese children and adolescents has increased within 40 years from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016[4].

The causes for the development of obesity are very complex and the disease is basically seen as multifactorial [5]. Parents influence their children’s diets through their own eating habits and through the eating environment they create at home [6]. Scientific evidence indicates that an unhealthy diet, sedentary behaviors and a lack of physical activity are major factors in the development of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence [7, 8].

Abstract

The IDEFICS/I.Family study (financed by the 6^th and 7^th European Framework Programs for Research) has investigated the eating behavior of children and adolescents from eight European countries with particular regard to obesity and its health consequences.

In almost all countries, sugar consumption made up more than 20% of overall energy intake. In Germany the proportion was actually 30%. In summary, our results show that improving the quality of food consumed, i.e. increasing the consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole meal products and reducing sugar-added and industrially processed foods, may prevent the development of childhood obesity. A dietary pattern characterized by high levels of vegetables, fruits and whole meal bread, for instance, was associated with a 36% lower risk of overweight and obesity. Moreover, similarities could be seen between the dietary patterns of family members. An association was also observed between lower social status and unfavorable dietary patterns in children.

The results recommend political measures to support children, particularly those from socially disadvantaged families, to eat more healthily and thus prevent the development of overweight and obesity already in childhood.

Keywords: child health, overweight, familial resemblance, dietary patterns, socioeconomic status

¹ Parts of this article were published in a similar form in 2017 [1].

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