Childhood obesity is considered an epidemic. More and more children in the Netherlands are overweight, which can lead to a health hazard. Every Sunday morning, overweight children are followed for a year in the 'Kiloknallers' program, to see if there is anything that can be done about being overweight and where it actually comes from. Even the use of a gastric band with children is discussed.
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One of the makers of Kiloknallers (Charlotte Hoogakker) was a guest at RTL Boulevard to defend the statement that a gastric band should be a last resort for children. Present life coach Carlos Lens was of the opinion that every pound comes through the mouth and that a lot of exercise and healthy eating is the only and correct solution. A heated discussion follows. The Kiloknallers program shows that the fat children also exercise, that they play sports. Only their weight gets in the way, so they tire faster and have less stamina.
What is striking about the series is that many fat children do not know what exactly is and what is not healthy. Especially the conflicting advice that dieticians give is very discouraging. Should you or should you not eat fruit? Does a gluten-free diet work? Is bread unhealthy or not? Apparently dietetics is not an exact science, so every dietician comes with different advice. This causes confusion for the children (and parents). How can you eat a lot of fruit one minute and the next dietitian says lots of fruit makes you fat? What can you still eat?
In different families, some children are fat, but the brothers or sisters are not. That seems to be a difference in physical functioning, one body burns more and faster than the other body. It is very frustrating for the children that a brother or sister can eat the same (in their own words) and not get fat. The parents are the ones who can best determine whether the children indeed eat the same food, but predisposition certainly has to do with being too fat or not. It is not known why one child in a family has this predisposition and another does not.
Many overweight children also appear to have problems at home. This seems to confirm this study, which showed that there is a strong link between the stress hormone cortisol and obesity in children. The conversations with the (too) fat children from Kiloknallers show that there is often something wrong in the home situation. This is clearly visible in some families in this series. But even where it is not visible, those problems can still be there and lead to obesity in children. A mother who has mental problems causes a lot of tension, another family lives below the poverty line and has no money for (healthy) food.
This exposes another problem:unhealthy food is (much) cheaper than healthy food. The mother from the story above herself gives as an example that she can feed her family by buying a bag of fries for 0.80 euros and a pack of frikandels for 0.80 euros. She has a complete meal for 1.60 euros. It is not healthy, but at least it is food that she can give her children. They take it for granted that obesity in children (and in the mother herself) is the result. In the Kiloknallers series, this mother eventually ends up at the food bank, where they do receive healthy food, but this is not a good situation for her children.
Of course, a healthy diet and plenty of exercise help against overweight and obesity in children. However, not all parents can afford healthy food and sports are not for everyone, especially when it comes to finances. There are schemes at municipalities that allow parents to get money back, but far too little is known about this. Not every child has a safe home situation, which also does not help with development and weight. In any case, it is clear that some children have a tendency to become fat and others do not. It has always been and always will be.
It is necessary that something be done about the many fat children, but to only point to the children and the families themselves for this is very short-sighted. It is a social problem that needs to be tackled on several sides at the same time. 'Fruit juice' sounds very healthy, but it isn't, just to give an example.
In the past 4 years there have been twenty children who have had a gastric band. There are only a few a year, children aged 14, 15 and 16 years old. The gastric band in children ensures that their stomachs become much smaller, they have less appetite and can therefore eat less. Currently, the UMC in Maastricht is the only hospital where this operation is performed, but the demand appears to be increasing.
More and more children with obesity are knocking on the door of their GP because no other treatment is working.
However, not all surgeons support the decision of the UMC in Maastricht. The main reason for this is that a gastric band is purely symptomatic and does not address the underlying cause. Although it is true that the children in question - because they lose a lot of pounds - can start exercising more and more easily. And also feel better socially, make contact more easily and as a result may be able to break a vicious circle.
Image used via Shutterstock
