I have tried to make sure that all Jamaicans are aware of the obesity epidemic facing the nation, but what we may not realise is that obesity is also a major concern for our children. In the last two decades, the prevalence of overweight children and adolescents has nearly tripled, and now one out of every four of our kids is seriously overweight or at risk of becoming obese.

Overweight and obese children face not only increased risk of health problems - heart disease, Type Two diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, digestive and joint problems, to name a few - but they are also likely to suffer from low self-esteem and depression as a result of their abnormal weight. Being overweight or obese can take a huge emotional toll on a young child.

Further, overweight adolescents have a 70 per cent chance of becoming overweight or obese as adults, and that chance moves closer to 80 per cent if the child hasa parent who is overweight or obese. An adult who was an obese child has an even greater likelihood of developing serious health problems than if the obesity developed in adulthood. As a nation, we need to aggressively tackle this problem now.

The problem is further compounded because parents of overweight children often refuse to recognise that their child is overweight. According to one survey, only three per cent of parents of severely obese children considered their child overweight, and eight per cent of the parents actually considered them to be underweight.

TURNING BACK TIE TIDE

Fortunately, obesity in children (and adults) can be prevented - and reversed. The future health of our country is clearly related to having our children eat healthy foods and get enough exercise. If we want to prevent needless grief and unnecessary suffering, then we must insist on healthy lifestyles.

Emotions also play a major role in child obesity, as many children's weight-loss efforts get sabotaged by emotional eating. Children may also have a hard time giving up their junk-food snacks. Consistent emotional support and mentoring can be profoundly helpful in alleviating not only food cravings, but also the underlying emotional challenges, such as low self-esteem, that can lead your child to eat unhealthy food or overeat.

Your children will learn their lifestyle habits from those around them, so it's important that parents and teachers are also eating well, exercising and controlling their own body weight. It is so much more effective when you say to your child, "Let's do this together."

Email Dr. Anthony Vendryes at vendryes@mac.com, log on to www.anounceofprevention.org, or listen to 'An Ounce of Prevention' on Power 106 FM on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.

CAUSES OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Child obesity ddhas a few major causes:

INACTIVITY: Watching television and playing video games rather than playing outsideto get exercise. Some research shows a direct relationship between the number of hours a child spends watching television and their obesity risk.

WRONG DRINKING: Drinking soda and juice instead of water. With the supersizing of sodas, children consume vast quantities of sugar from soft drinks. Even worse, the sugar in soft drinks is now high-fructose corn syrup that accelerates the development of obesity and diabetes.

Poor diet: Eating lots of high-carbohydrate foods - bread, biscuits, sweets, cereals and other calorie-dense foods. Unfortunately, a profit-driven food industry spends millions of dollars in advertising campaigns designed to seduce our children to eat those foods and to dig their own graves with their own teeth.