childhood obesity in sefton · 2015-04-01 · ∗ obesity has a life course component -growth...
TRANSCRIPT
CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN SEFTON
Report to Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board
5th March 2012
The causes of obesity are extremely complex encompassing biology and behaviour and set within a cultural, environmental and social framework.
∗society has altered drastically over the past five decades with major changes in work patterns, transport, food production and food sales.
∗These changes have exposed an underlying biological tendency, possessed by many people, to both put on weight and retain it.
Background
∗ personal responsibility verses the ‘obesogenic
environment’
∗ The Foresight Tackling Obesity Report (2007) identifies
four key determinants of obesity:
∗ Primary appetite control in the brain
∗ The force of dietary habits, keeping individuals from
adopting healthier alternatives
∗ The level of physical activity
∗ The psychological ambivalence experienced by individuals
in making lifestyle choices
∗ Obesity has a life course component - growth patterns in the first few
weeks and months of life affect the risk of later obesity and chronic
disease.
∗ The generational dimension shows that the most significant predictor of
childhood obesity is parental obesity (obesity in a parent increases the risk
of childhood obesity by 10%).
∗ Both of these elements represent significant opportunities to influence
behaviour.
∗ The Foresight Report (2007) predicted that 60% of the UK population will
be classified as clinically obese by 2050 and estimated that the wider costs
of obesity to Sefton are £46m per year - this rises to £85m when
considering overweight and obesity.
Life Course and Generational
component
Nationally
∗The most recent figures (2006) show that, among children aged 2-15, almost one-third –nearly 3 million – are overweight (including obese) (29.7%) and
∗ approximately one-sixth – about 1.5 million – are obese (16%)
(Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: a toolkit for developing local strategies, 2008)
Scale of the problem
Sefton
∗breastfeeding prevalence remains below
target 28.3% against a target of 30.6%.
∗Obesity in Year R is similar to previous year
(10.3% to 10.4%) and below target (11.8%)
∗Obesity in Year 6 has risen from last year
(19.3% to 20.7%) and is above target
(18.5%)
Scale of the problem
∗ Our current approach to tackling the problem is based on the five ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives’ key themes which are:
∗ Children: healthy growth and healthy weight –focuses on the importance of prevention of obesity from childhood including pre-conception, pregnancy and the early years
∗ Promoting healthier food choices - reducing the consumption of foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt and increasing fruit and vegetable intake
Sefton’s current approach
∗ Building physical activity into our lives – focuses on action to prevent overweight and obesity by everyday participation in physical activity and the promotion of a supportive built environment
∗ Creating incentives for better health – focuses on action to maintain a healthy weight in the workplace by the provision of healthy eating choices and opportunities for physical activity
∗ Personalised support for overweight and obese individuals – focuses on action to manage overweight and obesity through weight management services
∗ See paper for current interventions
Sefton’s current approach
∗ Food production/availability: eradicating trans fats, reducing salt, limiting fast food outlets, restricting advertising, lobbying. Price control
∗ Changing behaviours and the cues for behaviours relating to food, physical activity and physiological and psychosocial factors, but note
∗ Interventions may need to be conducted at individual, local, national and global levels.
∗ Different interventions targeting the same process of behaviour change will be needed across the life course.
Opportunities for intervention
∗ These relate to critical periods of changes in
metabolism (early life, pregnancy, menopause)
∗ times linked to spontaneous changes in
behaviour (leaving home, becoming a parent),
∗ periods of significant shifts in attitudes (peer
group influences, diagnosis of ill health).
Specific opportunities related to life course.
∗ What are the opportunities to engage at each of the age stages within your role?
∗ What opportunities could be cross organisational?
∗ Do we focus on one crucial age range?
∗ Have we got the balance right between prevention/treatment and individual/environment?
∗ What is needed to create a systemic whole systems approach?
∗ How can consistent visioning be organised?
Questions to consider