CHILD OBESITY: THE IMPORTANCE OF NUTRITIONAL FOLLOW-UP AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF ITS ABSENCE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is excess body fat that causes damage to the health of a population; considered a multifactorial chronic disease, responsible for triggering chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as type ll diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and arterial hypertension; obesity has recently been added to the hall of diseases with the potential to worsen Sars-CoV-2 (Covid-19). One billion people in the world are considered obese, with 340 million adolescents and 39 million children already included in this classification. Childhood obesity, transcends the relationship of body aesthetics, is a public health issue, and can also have an impact on social life and the relationship with low self-esteem. Some more common causes can be interspersed between heredity, lifestyle, inadequate and nutritionally poor dietary choices, psychological factors, misinformation and lack of adequate nutritional monitoring. Another important factor that needs to be significantly highlighted is the consumption of ultra-processed foods, especially among children, further aggravating the health risk, due to the high levels of sodium, trans fats and sugars, among others, added to their compositions. OBJECTIVES: To provide reflections, considerations and information on official data on the topic of childhood obesity and its aggravations, and the relationship between the influence of adequate nutritional monitoring on the health of children and young people. METHODOLOGY: The present study was based on bibliographic reviews of academic books with up-to-date publications related to Child Nutrition and Nutrition, both in the model of online electronic magazines and printed versions, by articles, research and works published from 2019, of the which presented coherence and scientific evidence for such an explanation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Following the same course of the exponential increase in the escalation of statistical data, we have 93% of children between 24 and 59 months and 80.5% of children between 12 and 23 months, already consuming ultra-processed foods in Brazil; therefore, the absence of child monitoring can trigger some very important problems: 1. Delay in development and growth; 2. Immune deficit; 3. Greater risk in the appearance and aggravation of infectious diseases; 4. Cognitive impairment; 5. Child malnutrition and/or obesity due to multifactors linked to the lack of nutritional monitoring. Statistical data raise an alert for the growing increase in childhood obesity across the globe, a public health problem, throwing important discussions into the spotlight in the context of nutritional monitoring in the aspect of disease prevention and control. CONCLUSION: The real need for nutritional monitoring from childhood is evident, given the possibilities of prevention and control of blood levels, cholesterol, hypovitaminosis, iron deficiency anemia, food selectivity and so many other aggravating factors arising from this chronic disease, "obesity", planning for this child to finally become a healthier and more conscious adult.