Experts emphasise that parents play a crucial role in fighting childhood obesity in Hong Kong. They noted that parents should do physical activities with the whole family and refrain from rewarding children with junk food.
Despite efforts to help their overweight children lose weight, some parents might continue to offer treats such as ice cream and candies as incentives for good academic performance, Dr Queenie See Wing-shan, president-elect of the Hong Kong Obesity Society and a paediatric specialist, said on Monday.
This could be counterproductive as it reinforced the idea of unhealthy food as a reward, she said, calling for awareness ahead of World Obesity Day on Tuesday.
Around one in five primary and secondary school students were overweight in the 2022-2023 academic year, according to the latest Department of Health data released last June.
See suggested rewarding children with healthy alternatives, such as spending quality time together at the park.
“The family needs to work together to pursue a healthy lifestyle,” she added.
Rio de Janeiro schools try a new recipe to reduce child obesity
Childhood overweight and obesity rates had declined slightly for the first time in years after a Covid-era surge. The prevalence of overweight secondary students dropped from 22.1 per cent in the 2021-22 school year to 20.5 per cent in 2022-23, according to the Department of Health.
This was thanks partly to government initiatives such as an award scheme encouraging students to take part in physical activities and proposals to evaluate physical performance alongside academic scores, but more could be done, See said.
While busy parents might choose takeaway or fast food to accommodate their schedules, See noted the importance of eating healthily and exercising regularly together.
This concern was underscored by the department’s findings that more than 93 per cent of students in Hong Kong failed to meet the World Health Organization’s recommendation of at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily.
Left unaddressed, childhood obesity was likely to persist in adulthood and could lead to health issues such as diabetes, heart disease and liver disease, See warned.
Dr Kelvin Lam Long-yan, a specialist in gastroenterology and hepatology, noted that some young adult patients had developed serious liver issues during teenage years.
Combating childhood obesity early was crucial “to prevent it from progressing to a stage that cannot be reversible”, he said.
Losing 5 per cent of body weight could help reverse fatty liver damage, Lam added, while losing 10 per cent could mostly resolve fibrosis, a scarring that can lead to more serious liver disease.
While noting the importance of academics, Lam also highlighted health as a crucial part of children’s lives.
“We need to prioritise what is important to us,” he said, urging parents to make physical activities a family affair.
