Combating childhood obesity starts at home

Registered dietitian nutritionist Dr Christine Fray is urging parents to create healthier home environments to combat childhood obesity and promote lifelong wellness.

Speaking at a recent JIS Think Tank, Fray said that children are growing up in environments where dietary habits, limited physical activity and increased screen time are contributing to weight gain from an early age.

“Our children live in what is called an obesogenic environment, meaning that everything around them, the way they eat, the activities that they have, the things that they do, yield a higher probability of weight gain,” she pointed out. Fray is president-elect of the Jamaica Association of Nutrition and Dietetics and Associate Professor and Programme Director, Dietetics and Nutrition, College of Health Sciences at the University of Technology. She noted that unhealthy eating patterns often begin at home, where children are introduced to foods high in fat and sugar from an early age, shaping preferences before they enter the school system and making healthier choices more difficult as they grow older.

She noted that the school environment can further influence children’s eating habits, particularly where healthy food choices and preparation are not prioritised. Other important contributory factors she highlighted are insufficient physical activity and increased sedentary behaviour. She noted that physical activity is no longer as embedded in Jamaican culture as it once was.

“Children are put before a screen, and that is another part of that obesogenic environment, so you have a child that is really set up for weight gain,” she said. The nutritionist explained that children who develop obesity are at greater risk of developing chronic diseases, including diabetes and, later in life, conditions such as hypertension.

She is, therefore, calling for a coordinated national approach involving parents, schools and other systems across the country to promote healthier lifestyles among children.