2023-07-02 14:04:03
Food insecurity has an impact on children coping with obesity, reveals a study produced by researchers at Laval University. These children respond less well to programs aimed at changing their lifestyle.
The study, published in The Journal of Nutrition, analyzed data from 214 children followed by the Maison de Santé Prévention-Approche 180, a clinic specializing in the treatment of childhood obesity, in Montreal. A multidisciplinary program is offered there for overweight children.
“We analyzed whether the program allowed changes in body weight […] depending on the food security status of the households that are monitored at the clinic,” explains Marie Cyrenne-Dussault, doctoral student in pharmaceutical sciences and first author of the study.
Before writing this article, a previous study had stated that the clinic’s clientele was made up of 40% of people from families experiencing food insecurity.
Food insecurity is defined by Public Health of Quebec as a state “when the availability of safe and nutritious food, or the ability to acquire personally satisfying food through socially acceptable means, is limited or uncertain”.
“Barriers to improvement”
“We found that on the one hand, yes the program allows changes in body weight in these young people. On the other hand, for the children who were in a situation of food insecurity, the changes were less significant,” declared Ms. Cyrenne-Dussault.
The probability that the body mass index of a child in a situation of food insecurity decreases significantly during a lifestyle change program is 43% lower than a child who is not in this situation. same situation.
This finding “allows us to assume that these people probably face barriers in improving, among other things, lifestyle habits, which is an important component of the clinic in Montreal,” says Marie Cyrenne-Dussault.
Families dealing with food insecurity may find it more difficult to obtain healthy, nutritious food due to high grocery prices, or to provide space for children to be active physical, for example.
“It emphasizes that lifestyle modification programs should take into account the socio-economic context of these families, which is often done, but not always systematically, with the precise aim of optimizing the efficiency of these programs,” continues Ms. Cyrenne-Dussault, saying that the resources available to these families are often limited.
A rise for several years
In Canada, 30% of young people aged 5 to 17 have to deal with childhood obesity, explains Marie Cyrenne-Dussault. “Childhood obesity has increased quite significantly in the last few decades,” she says.
This study demonstrates, in her view, the importance of taking into account the additional difficulties of children in a situation of food insecurity.
Ms. Cyrenne-Dussault believes that the study “underlines the importance of focusing on this problem, which we know has grown a little with the pandemic”. She is continuing her research on the subject as part of her doctorate.
“Our article focused on changes in weight. But of course, we are aware that currently changes in weight are not the only indicators of success of a behavior change program either. This is one of the reasons why we will eventually assess changes in lifestyle,” she explains.
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