Obesity Prevention in Pacific Adolescents PDF Download

Author: Ofanaite Ana Dewes
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Health
Languages : en
Pages : 606

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Author: Tasileta Teevale
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lifestyles
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
The purpose of this thesis was to explore socio-cultural factors that may promote or prevent obesity in Pacific communities residing in New Zealand. Specific objectives were to describe the behaviours, knowledge, beliefs and values of Pacific adolescents and their parents, as related to food consumption, physical activity and body image and to compare the responses of obese Pacific adolescents and their parents to their non-obese or healthy weight counterparts. A mixed-methods approach was utilised to gather data. Information was collected from a questionnaire administered to 4215 students who participated in the New Zealand arm of the Obesity Prevention In Communities (OPIC) project and sixty-eight individuals (33 students and 35 parents) from 30 Pacific households participated in individual interviews as part of the qualitative phase of the study. To meet the comparative objectives of the study, Pacific adolescents were recruited by obese (n=16) and healthy weight (n=17) status. The outcome of the analysis found that cost and affordability of food, time-constraints through employment obligations and lack of health education or experience negatively affected the health-promoting behaviours of Pacific adolescents and their parents (i.e. not meeting the current guidelines for healthy eating and regular physical activity). Healthy weight Pacific adolescents were significantly more active, consumed fruit and vegetables regularly and had habitual levels of breakfast and lunch consumption compared to obese Pacific adolescents. Obese adolescents were inactive, had takeaway family meals more often and skipped breakfast and lunch meals more frequently. Obese adolescents were also dissatisfied with their body weight, received more parental encouragement to lose weight and engaged in weight control behaviours more than the healthy weight cohort. Healthy weight adolescents and parents seemed to have more health-related knowledge and experience than obese adolescents and parents. There were no differences in the knowledge, values and beliefs about the health-protective effects of food and regular physical activity between obese and healthy weight Pacific adolescents and their parents. There was sound knowledge observed in the link between food and particular eating habits, physical inactivity and body size to obesity risk and study participants desired to increase their healthful behaviours, particularly amongst the obese. The key difference between healthy weight and obese adolescent households was in parental presence at home. Healthy weight adolescents came from households that were more likely to have a full-time or part-time parent at home. While obese adolescents were more likely to come from households that had both parents working full-time, particularly for sustained periods of time in shift-type working arrangements. Furthermore, all students and parents perceived overweight and underweight bodies undesirable for adverse health consequences, suggesting they understand the link between obesity and health. Most students and parents desired average-sized bodies that were functional, i.e. for adolescents, bodies that could be competent in sports and dance, for Pacific adults, bodies that could achieve daily tasks like housework, childrearing and meeting the needs of the family were desired and valued. This thesis finds that socio-environmental influences like socio-economic position, occupational type, health education and experience were much more instrumental influencers on health behaviours than socio-cultural factors. Attitudes, values and beliefs about food, physical activity and body image, which were comparable between obese and non-obese Pacific adolescents and their parents, were not as influential on health behaviours. Obese adolescents held the same attitudes, beliefs and values about food, physical activity and body image as their healthy-weight counterparts, but these factors were not protective for obesity-risk. To address obesity in Pacific youth in New Zealand, a number of macro-environmental changes are recommended to reverse obesity trends. Developing food pricing control policies to mitigate healthy food costs, revising sustained employment hour policies, making changes to school food and physical activity environments and incentivising healthy workplaces are some suggestions. This study suggests certain structural environmental factors related to poverty affects the health-promoting behaviours of Pacific communities in New Zealand. Future obesity intervention efforts for Pacific groups need to address poverty status and specific interventions that prioritise the elements of motivation, self-esteem, self-confidence and life-skills training as well as making policy changes to structural barriers is likely to be more effective.

Author: Jennifer Utter
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780473141936
Category : Obesity in adolescence
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309133408
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Children's health has made tremendous strides over the past century. In general, life expectancy has increased by more than thirty years since 1900 and much of this improvement is due to the reduction of infant and early childhood mortality. Given this trajectory toward a healthier childhood, we begin the 21st-century with a shocking developmentâ€"an epidemic of obesity in children and youth. The increased number of obese children throughout the U.S. during the past 25 years has led policymakers to rank it as one of the most critical public health threats of the 21st-century. Preventing Childhood Obesity provides a broad-based examination of the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S. children and youth, including the social, environmental, medical, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence. The book also offers a prevention-oriented action plan that identifies the most promising array of short-term and longer-term interventions, as well as recommendations for the roles and responsibilities of numerous stakeholders in various sectors of society to reduce its future occurrence. Preventing Childhood Obesity explores the underlying causes of this serious health problem and the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.

Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309149894
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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To battle the obesity epidemic in America, health care professionals and policymakers need relevant, useful data on the effectiveness of obesity prevention policies and programs. Bridging the Evidence Gap in Obesity Prevention identifies a new approach to decision making and research on obesity prevention to use a systems perspective to gain a broader understanding of the context of obesity and the many factors that influence it.

Author:
Publisher: Office of the Surgeon General
ISBN:
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Promotes the recognition, treatment, and prevention of conditions of overweight and obesity in the United States.

Author: Dorairaj Prabhakaran
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464805202
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 948

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Book Description
Cardiovascular, respiratory, and related conditions cause more than 40 percent of all deaths globally, and their substantial burden is rising, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Their burden extends well beyond health effects to include significant economic and societal consequences. Most of these conditions are related, share risk factors, and have common control measures at the clinical, population, and policy levels. Lives can be extended and improved when these diseases are prevented, detected, and managed. This volume summarizes current knowledge and presents evidence-based interventions that are effective, cost-effective, and scalable in LMICs.

Author: United States. Indian Health Service. Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Body weight
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Author: Luis A. Moreno
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441960392
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 502

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Despite adults’ best preventive efforts, childhood obesity is on the rise in most areas of the world, and with it the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and other formerly adult-onset conditions. Epidemiology of Obesity in Children and Adolescents takes the global ecological approach that is needed to understand the scope of the problem and its multiple causes and mechanisms, and to aid in developing more effective prevention and intervention programs. In the book’s first half, experts present a descriptive summary of youth obesity trends in ten world regions, broken down by age group, gender, socioeconomic status, and risk factors. Complementing these findings, part two reviews the evidence base regarding the variables, separately and in combination, having the most significant impact on young people’s development of obesity, including: • Genetic and nutrigenomic factors. • Environmental and psychosocial factors, such as family shopping and eating habits and access to healthful foods. • Neuroendocrine regulation. • Prenatal and neonatal factors (e.g., gestational diabetes of the mother). • Dietary factors, from nutrient content to young people’s food preferences. • Physical activity versus sedentary behavior. Epidemiology of Obesity in Children and Adolescents is necessary reading for the range of professionals involved in curtailing this epidemic, including public health specialists, epidemiologists, pediatricians, nurses, nutritionists, psychologists, health educators, and policymakers.

Author: John David Sluyter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lifestyles
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Obesity prevalence among Pacific Island adolescents is high and is a major health concern. In view of this, obesity interventions targeted at this group are urgently required. However, evidence of suitable intervention strategies for this population is lacking. In addition, it is not clear how well measures of obesity that can be used in the field setting quantify fatness in South Pacific youth. To address these gaps of knowledge in the literature, this thesis aimed to examine the association between lifestyle risk factors of obesity and body composition variables in this population (Obesity Prevention In Communities (OPIC) study). To assist this objective, a second aim of this thesis was to examine the relationship between fatness estimated by field methods (anthropometric and bioimpedance analysis (BIA) variables) and measured by an accepted reference method in South Pacific youth (validation study). In the validation study, 432 adolescents (Pacific Island, Maori, Asian and European) were purposively selected from high schools in Auckland. Anthropometric variables were measured, impedance variables were measured on an 8-electrode BIA (BIA8) device (Tanita BC-418; Tanita, Tokyo, Japan) and body composition variables were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). In the OPIC study, data were collected from >17,000 students from 4 countries (New Zealand (NZ), Australia, Fiji and Tonga) and 8 ethnic groups (NZ Pacific Island, NZ Maori, NZ Asian, NZ European, Indigenous Fijian, Fijian Indian and Tongan), which comprised information on demographic, lifestyle and body composition variables. Results from the validation study showed that, compared to Europeans, for the same body mass index (BMI), Asian Indians had more percent body fat (%BF), while Maori and Pacific Islanders had less %BF. In boys, readily measured variables, waist circumference/height and conicity index, had notable effects on the %BF ethnic differences. Other factors that contributed to these differences in boys and girls were variation in muscularity, bone mass, fat distribution and relative leg length. BIA8 estimated DXA-measured total fat mass (TFM), %BF and fat-free mass with significant bias. BIAbased prediction equations developed in the sample performed better than reliance on the manufacturer's equations and these equations depended upon ethnicity. For the same waist circumference (WC), compared to Europeans and Maori, Asians had more percent abdominal fat (%AbFM) and Pacific Islanders had less %AbFM. Adjustment for trunk impedance (ZTr) removed or reduced these %AbFM differences. In fact, at a given WC, ethnic differences in ZTr mirrored variation in %AbFM across ethnic groups. OPIC analyses revealed that Pacific Islanders had markedly higher fatness levels than other groups, including when %BF, TFM and %AbFM were used as fatness measures. Among all ethnic groups combined, TV watching was positively related to fatness in a dose-dependent manner. Overall effects showed strong, dose-dependent associations between fatness and soft drink consumption (positive relationship), breakfast consumption (inverse relationship) and after-school physical activity (inverse relationship). Differences in lifestyle obesity risk factors were associated with percentage differences in body composition variables that were greatest for TFM, followed by %BF and then BMI. This thesis supports the view that TV watching, soft drink consumption, breakfast consumption and physical inactivity contribute to increased obesity prevalence among Pacific Island youth. Body composition (DXA-measured fatness) notably varies at a given body size. Consistent with this, and an original finding, is that lifestyle factors are most strongly related to TFM and %BF, suggesting that obesity interventions and studies that use only BMI to quantify fatness may underestimate the "true" effect of lifestyle on adiposity.