Junk food and a vast abundance of candies and sweet carbonated beverages led to one of the most serious global health challenges in the modern world. Childhood obesity can result not only in diabetes, high cholesterol levels, and increased blood pressure but also contribute to low self-esteem and depression. The situation becomes more dangerous as the number of pediatric obesity cases is constantly growing. Thus, childhood obesity threatens with aggravating cardiac and metabolic effects and complications that worsen the quality of a child’s life.
Childhood obesity is an international problem that requires more research to find ways to prevent it. The understanding of the pathogenesis and development of this health condition is now enough and detailed, but the issues of prevention and treatment remain insufficient (Caprio et al., 2020). Moreover, pediatric obesity bears a high probability of continuing into adulthood (Caprio et al., 2020). Studies show that the rate increased by 14% or about ten times in the period between 1975 and 2016 (Caprio et al., 2020). It means that 50 million girls and 74 million boys are obese now (Caprio et al., 2020). In view of this, the world is going to face a growing number of obesity-induced adverse effects and complications if this tendency remains the same.
Pediatric obesity is often associated with metabolic syndrome that leads to various disorders. Nehus and Mitsnefes (2019) state that metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of risk factors causing cardiovascular disease. They include hypertension, dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity, and glucose intolerance (Nehus & Mitsnefes, 2019). In turn, they can be a reason for the development of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in adulthood (Nehus & Mitsnefes, 2019). Moreover, there is a strong link between obesity and chronic kidney disease, as well as end-stage renal disease (Nehus & Mitsnefes, 2019). Childhood obesity is associated with kidney injury because there is a growing number of obesity-related renal dysfunction and proteinuria cases (Nehus & Mitsnefes, 2019). In this regard, the additional conditions can lead to more serious and incurable complications in the future.
Cardiometabolic complications represent an issue of acute concern. Caprio et al. (2020) found that almost 80% of obese children remain obese when they become adults. This fact suggests that the same percentage of young people are likely to have fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, as well as cardiovascular disease (Caprio et al., 2020). The main symptom of obesity is ectopic fat storage, which contributes to the development of insulin resistance (Caprio et al., 2020). In addition, obese children have an increased likelihood of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (Caprio et al., 2020). Intrahepatic fat accumulation may develop with the growth of BMI (Caprio et al., 2020). Thus, medical professionals and scientists have to pay much attention to the prevention of the mentioned complications.
To sum up, one should realize that childhood obesity is a dangerous health condition that can continue into adulthood. It poses different serious risks to the functions of the whole body, thus leading to cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease, and others. All these comorbidities of obesity often remain for entire life and require continuous medical management. In this regard, more attention must be paid to research investigating the adverse effects and complications of pediatric obesity to better understand the cause-effect connections and develop programs related to the prevention of this disorder.
References
Caprio, S., Santoro, N., & Weiss, R. (2020). Childhood obesity and the associated rise in cardiometabolic complications.Nature Metabolism, 2(3), pp. 223-232.
Nehus, E., & Mitsnefes, M. (2019). Childhood obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 66(1), pp. 31-43.