/ 3 July 2008

The future is fat

South Africa’s is overweight, underactive and malnourished, with the highest smoking rates in Africa. The country’s children missed a pass for their health in a survey last year and are likely to fail again in this year’s study.

Economic constraints, lack of education and lack of enthusiasm are some of the reasons why children’s health is so bad.

The Sports Science Institute of South Africa and Discovery’s Vitality scheme produced a classroom pack to help teachers and pupils improve their health. The packs, which can be requested by any school, were sent to 1 000 schools. They contain lesson plans for teachers of grades one to five, working on the theory that older children are probably too set in their ways for a school-based programme to change their behaviour.

The classroom packs attempt to increase teacher and learner awareness of all aspects of health. Content varies depending on the targeted age level. Packs for grade one, for example, have games and worksheets to encourage awareness of sport. Photographs illustrate the exercises. Older children are taught more about nutrition and how to follow a healthy diet. They are also taught about food preparation and storage and how to monitor their health.

The research, conducted last year, looked at physical activity, obesity, stunting, unhealthy eating, tobacco use and the healthiness of school tuck shops, vendors and feeding schemes.

The research, conducted by six academic and research institutions in South Africa, found a disturbing pattern of overeating and unhealthy diet.

By adolescence, the research found, more than a third of urban girls were obese. Obesity was higher in urban areas, while stunting was higher in rural areas, although some children suffered from both.

Research in the United States last year on childhood obesity found that obese adolescent girls were between two to three times more likely to die by middle age than their normal weight peers.

Obese children tend to become obese adults and biological changes in overweight mothers may make it more likely that their children will be overweight.

Obesity is a factor contributing to South Africa’s epidemic of hypertension and high blood pressure. It also causes a multitude of other health issues, from joint problems to risk of diabetes.

The world’s number one cause of preventable deaths — tobacco — is also taking its toll on South African adolescents. According to last year’s survey, 30% claim to have smoked at least one cigarette, 21% smoke and nearly 7% are frequent smokers. Six percent of teenagers claimed to have first smoked when they were younger than 10.

South Africans might be keen on watching sports, but they are less enthusiastic about physical activity themselves. Some participants said fear of crime made them reluctant to venture outside, although overall the most common reported leisure activity was cellphone use.