Making children with obesity lose weight by proposing to be in front of a mobile phone, tablet or PC screen is counterintuitive: screen means a sedentary lifestyle, and a sedentary lifestyle is inevitable synonymous with overweight, before, during and after Covid. But if the screen in question plays videos developed by endocrinologists, motor scientists, nutrition experts and psychologists, well that time spent in front of a digital device can lead to weight loss.
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A digital format
That things can go this way is shown by a video-based telemedicine program for the treatment of childhood obesity developed by German researchers in Hanover whose results were presented at the 60th Congress of ESPE, the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology, which has just ended in Rome. The survey represents an extension of a study published by the same authors on Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism in May 2022 which described the results obtained by transforming, due to the restrictions due to Covid, a program for adolescents with traditional obesity (visits, weekly educational meetings, etc.) into a video-based telemedicine educational format.
Challenges won … by children
The project involved 108 children and adolescents between 8 and 17 years of age with obesity who for 12 months took part in remote educational seminars and workshops on food choices, on cooking and portion control, in sessions on emotional eating. or about the health consequences of obesity and even live cooking sessions.
Halfway through the program, parents and children challenged each other in a quiz that served to assess the level of knowledge of the topics covered over the previous six months (the challenge was won by the children, the authors say). A weekly newsletter provided teens and families with topical tips and updates.
After a year, the result was that children and adolescents not only lost weight, but also improved metabolic health and regulated eating behavior, achieving short- and long-term benefits in terms of quality of life and health.
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The values drop, the eating behavior improves
In more detail, the participants improved metabolic health in terms of body mass index, cholesterol, triglyceride and fat levels in the blood, and experienced a lowering of HOMA, the index that evaluates insulin resistance. They were able to make better food choices: they reduced the amount of food and the number of meals, which dropped from 7.2 to 4.1 per day. They significantly increased fruit and vegetable intake and significantly decreased sweets, snacks and soft drinks. Finally, teens’ quality of life has increased substantially, reaching pre-pandemic levels, the authors say.
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An epidemic of today, and also of tomorrow
With 124 million obese children and adolescents worldwide, childhood obesity is the size of an epidemic, the consequences of which, among other things, go far beyond the present. 40% of children with obesity could become obese, and 80% of adolescents with obesity are likely to be obese adults, with obesity increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and various forms of cancer. Childhood obesity is therefore a challenge that we must learn to overcome.
Confirm the results and go beyond the covid
“Managing childhood obesity is a major challenge,” he said Felix Reschke, endocrinologist at the Auf Der Bilt children’s hospital in Hanover, co-author of the study – but we have shown that adolescents with pre-existing obesity can be helped with a video-based training activity. Project participants improved in their dietary choices, appetite control and portion sizes of food, thus improving their metabolic health and quality of life ”.
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Repeat the study also on the little ones
“These data – added Reschke – were obtained on a small group in a single center, so they must be repeated on larger groups”, it will also be necessary to understand if the same success can be achieved even outside the restrictions due to the pandemic. In the future, the authors plan to test the video-based training program with parents of overweight pre-school children to see if the same scheme can help prevent the development of obesity through early educational intervention.
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A subtle border
“Our results tell us that this approach can be an effective and cost-effective model for the treatment of obesity in young people: it eliminates the need for regular face-to-face contact, which can be of particular benefit to those who have difficulty attending meetings. Although – added Reschke – we must be careful not to unnecessarily increase the amount of time children and adolescents spend in front of screens. It could be a fine line, but according to our data it is worth a try “.
Italy is one of the European countries with the highest prevalence of childhood obesity: Italian children with obesity are 9.4% of the total and those overweight about 20%, we are fourth after Cyprus, Spain and Greece.