In the recent years, children are becoming more and more prone to overweight and obesity, with many underlying factors including less engagement in physical activity due to frequent gadget use and increased consumption of energy-dense or empty calorie foods, among others. An increase in weight affects most children, as they tend to suffer discrimination and rejection by their peers. This results to poor self-image and a passive approach to life.

Knowing this, parents must be careful to ensure that they convey proper messages to their children about proper nutrition. While the internet has vast amount of information, parents must be wary on their sources in managing their children’s nutrition.

Researchers from the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center) in the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University conducted a systematic review of numerous published guidelines for having conversations with children about weight status to analyze their content, consistency, actionability and scientific support. Through web-based searches, they identified 59 independently published guidelines on childhood obesity by major health advocacy groups. Out of 59 only 13 have provided explicit direction on how the caregiver or health care professional should approach a conversation about overweight or obesity with a child.

The research also noted that of the 13 guidelines only 3 have scholarly sources and only a small minority of advice was easily applied to everyday situations by parents, caregivers or health care professionals.

Through this study, parents and caregiver should be keen on what nutrition guidelines they use for their children. Luckily in the Philippines, government agencies have developed guidelines for fellow Filipinos can follow to attain proper nutrition, the National Nutrition Council developed 10 Kumainments, a popularized version of the nutritional guidelines for the Filipinos to guide people from all walks of life to attain healthy lifestyle. In addition, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology developed Pinggang Pinoy, a food plate model used to easily understand right proportion of food group proportions in a meal. With these guides, parents are equipped with established nutrition knowledge that they can use to develop positive eating behaviors to their children. (FEPBacena)

Sources:
https://drexel.edu/now/archive/2020/December/Guidelines-Review-Talking-to-Kids-About-Weight/