Te weinig gezonde vetten maakt dikke kinderen.*
Uit een Zweedse studie onder bijna 200 gezonde kinderen van 4 jaar blijkt dat overgewicht bij kinderen wel eens veroorzaakt kan worden door het te weinig eten van gezonde vetten. Van de onderzochte groep kinderen had 23% overgewicht en 2% was zelfs zwaarlijvig. Omdat dit onderzoek gedaan is onder kinderen uit betere sociale gezinnen zou het best eens kunnen zijn dat bij andere kinderen deze percentages wel eens duidelijk hoger kunnen zijn. Verder bleek dat de kinderen 25% van hun dagelijks aantal calorieën kregen van fastfood en dat de kinderen slechts 35% van de dagelijks aanbevolen hoeveelheid groenten en fruit kregen. Zo had 70% van de kinderen met overgewicht veel te lage bloedwaarden aan ijzer en 20% een duidelijk tekort aan calcium.
Opvallend was dat de kinderen met de laagste BMI meer vetten consumeerden dan de kinderen met overgewicht, wel waren dat meer onverzadigde vetten, in het bijzonder omega-3 vetzuren. Ook de bloedwaarden aan insuline bleken het hoogst te zijn bij de kinderen met overgewicht. Meisjes met de hoogste inname van onverzadigde vetten bleken veruit de laagste insuline waarden te hebben.
Healthy
4 Year Olds Who Eat Lots Of Fat Weigh Less
Four-year-olds
eat too few vegetables and too much sugar. They also bolt down lots of junk food,
but children who eat more fat than others nevertheless weigh less. This is shown
in a new dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University in
Sweden.
The study includes nearly 200 healthy four-year-olds in Göteborg and examines
both their eating habits and their life styles. Twenty percent of the children
were overweight based on their body mass index (BMI), and two percent were obese.
"Most of the children in our study come from good socioeconomic backgrounds.
If the study had reflected all four-year-olds in Sweden, more children would
probably have been overweight," says dietician Malin Haglund Garemo.
Analysis of the children's body build showed that weight increases was a result
of the body storing more fat, but those who ate the most fat were not the ones
who weighed most. Instead, children who ate less fat had higher BMIs.
"Every third child in the study ate far too little unsaturated fat, above
all too little Omega-3. These children had significantly higher body weight.
This supports other studies that show that obese children have shortages of
Omega-3," says Malin Haglund Garemo.
Omega-3 is found in fatty fish and vegetables. Also, children who watched TV
more than one hour every day had higher BMIs in the study.
The children's eating habits differed from the general recommendations for
children in several other ways. The children ate an average of only 140 grams of
fruit and vegetables every day, compared with the recommended 400 grams. Seventy
percent of the children were getting too little iron. Twenty percent of them had
insufficient calcium intake. One fourth of the children's total energy intake
came from candy, ice cream, cookies, and sweet beverages.
Malin Haglund Garemo's research also shows that children with the highest
insulin levels had increased the most in weight since birth. This result was
most pronounced in girls. Insulin production was less heightened in girls who
ate more fat.
"We plan to pursue more studies to see if the early increase in insulin is
causing obesity. Such results would go against the common perception that fat
causes increased insulin production as a result of insulin resistance,"
says Malin Haglund Garemo.
Title of dissertation: Nutrition and Health in 4-Year-Olds in a Swedish
Well-Educated Community.
The Swedish Research Council
The Swedish Research Council bears national responsibility for developing the
country's basic research towards attainment of a strong international position.
The Council has three main tasks: research funding, science communication and
research policy. Research is the foundation for the development of knowledge in
society, and the basis of high-quality education. Research is also crucial as a
means of enhancing welfare through economic, social and cultural development.