NEWS
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Pandemic could increase childhood obesity levels say researchers |
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POSTED 12 Apr 2020 . BY Liz Terry |
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Researchers recommend schools offer home streamed exercise classes to keep kids active during the shutdown Credit: Shutterstock/Maria Symchych
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School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic will exacerbate the epidemic of childhood obesity in the US, according to public health scientists at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
Researchers expect school closures will double holiday time this year for many children, exacerbating the risk factors for weight gain that are associated with the summer holidays. Andrew Rundle, associate professor of epidemiology and his colleagues have published their work in Obesity, the journal of the Obesity Society.
Data show children experience unhealthy weight gain during the summer months when they're out of school and that this effect is particularly apparent in children who are already overweight.
"There could be long-term consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic," says Rundle, who specialises in research to prevent childhood obesity.
"Research shows weight gained over the summer months is maintained during the school year and accrues from summer to summer. When a child experiences obesity, even at a young age, they are at risk for higher, unhealthy weight, all the way into middle age."
The authors suggest a number of strategies for reducing the risk, including building physical education into remote teaching plans and offering home lesson plans for physical activity and/or streaming exercise classes.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for widespread sickness and death, straining healthcare systems, shutting down economies, and closing school districts," says Rundle. "While it's a priority to mitigate its immediate impact, it's also important to consider ways of preventing its long-term effects, including new risks for childhood obesity."
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FEATURE: HCM research: Old before their time
POSTED 16 Mar 2020.
Obesity and ageing have the same effects
on the body, with some impacts being
irreversible, according to new research
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FEATURE: HCM People: Amanda Daley
POSTED 12 Feb 2020.
The Professor of behavioural medicine is
proposing PACE labelling to show people
how long they would need to walk or run
in order to burn off calories eaten
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CMO report: 10 recommendations to end childhood obesity
POSTED 10 Oct 2019. BY Tom Walker
The outgoing chief medical officer, professor Dame Sally Davies, has called for urgent action across
the industry – and the public sector – to help the government reach its target of halving childhood
obesity by 2030.
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Bannatyne has bounced back from the pandemic |
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The Bannatyne Group says it has officially bounced back from the pandemic, with both turnover
and profits restored to pre-2020 levels in 2023, according to its year-end results. |
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