Background and aims: Impaired eating habits and reduced physical activity have become associated with obesity in children in the last three decades. Parents have a responsibility to be good models for their children regarding lifestyle patterns and habits. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate a family-based behavioural intervention programme (FBIP) for children with obesity designed for use in paediatric outpatient care. The specific aims were to investigate the clinical outcomes and programme adherence and to examine the children’s lifestyle habits according to their own and their parents’ reports, the agreement between these reports, and the correlations to change in z-BMI (standardized body mass index) from baseline to 12 months after the FBIP. Subjects and methods: This thesis is based on a prospective single-group before/after design. Twenty-six children, 14 boys and 12 girls aged 8.3–12.0 years, and their parents attended 25 group sessions, in 3 child and 3 parental groups, during a 2-year FBIP. The treatment manual, Group treatment for children with Overweight and Obesity and their Parents and the semistructured interview called MORSE, a Swedish term for Food and Activity, Social and Emotional adaptation, emphasizes cognitive and behavioural guidelines and the focus is to change eating and physical activity habits and to maintain the new changes. Results: The results showed that the children decreased their z-BMI from a mean of 3.3 (0.7 SD) at baseline to 2.9 (0.7 SD) 1 year after the completion of the programme. There was a significant decrease in z-BMI in boys from a mean of 3.5 (0.6 SD) at baseline to 3.0 (0.7 SD) (p = 0.001) at follow-up 12 months after completion of the programme; the z-BMI in the girls decreased from a mean of 3.0 (0.6 SD) at baseline to 2.7 (0.8 SD) (p = 0.155) at follow-up. The children’s waist/height ratio (the waist circumference in centimetres) divided by the height (in centimetres) showed no significant decrease over the same period. The biomedical markers of blood glucose metabolism and lipid status remained within the normal range at the 1-year follow-up after program completion compared with baseline. The rate of family adherence to the programme was high. The reports from the children and the parents regarding the children’s lifestyle habits showed a significant increase regarding the level of physical activity after the FBIP (24 months) compared with baseline. Agreement between the children and their parents improved after the FBIP (24 months) compared with baseline, regarding whether the children felt hungry most of the time and the children’s levels of physical and sedentary activity. Changes in the child or parental analyses of lifestyle were not significantly associated with reduced weight 1 year after the end of the FBIP. Conclusions: A 2-year FBIP against childhood obesity implemented in a paediatric outpatient setting can be seen as a potential model for children and their parents. It is important to offer interventions to children with obesity although this FBIP needs to be confirmed with larger populations in a randomized controlled trial.

A presente pesquisa objetiva investigar psicanaliticamente a experiência emocional de mães de crianças com diagnóstico de obesidade, justificando-se na medida em que o tratamento da condição, que inclui atenção psicológica, implica importante participação materna. O trabalho se organiza como estudo de caso da mãe de uma criança obesa em atendimento. O material clínico apresentado corresponde a duas narrativas transferenciais, relativas à história de vida e à entrevista individual da participante, que inclui suas manifestações produzidas em resposta ao Procedimento de Desenhos-Estórias com Tema. A consideração psicanalítica desse material permitiu a produção interpretativa de dois campos de sentido afetivo emocional: Sou mãe de um menino, logo existo e Minha mãe me ama, logo existo que apontam para dificuldades básicas e para movimentos de busca de constituição de si mesma como pessoa significativa para si e para o outro. Fica assim demonstrado que a experiência emocional materna, no caso estudado, está fortemente marcada por dificuldades subjetivas básicas, ligadas a processos de constituição de self, o que provavelmente afeta o cuidado psicológico do filho. Tal achado indica que é possível que a obesidade infantil seja expressão sintomática de complexas configurações familiares, de caráter transgeracional / The present study aims to psychoanalytically investigate the emotional experience of obesity diagnosis children´s mothers, justifying on the extent that the treatment of the condition, which includes psychological attention, implies important maternal participation. The work is organized as a case study of an obese in care child´s mother. The clinical material presented corresponds to two transferential narratives, related to life history and to individual participant interview, which includes their manifestation produced in response to the Theme Drawings-Story Procedure. The psychoanalytical consideration of this material allowed the interpretative production of two fields of emotional affection: I am a boy´s mother, so I exist and My mother loves me, so I exist, which points out to basic difficulties and to constitution seeking movements to herself as a significant person to her own and to the other individual. It is thus demonstrated that the maternal emotional experience, in the studied case, is strongly measured by basic subjective difficulties, linked to the constitution processes of self, which probably affects the psychological child´s care. Such discovery indicates it is possible that the childhood obesity is a symptomatic expression of family complex configuration, from a transgenerational nature

A presente pesquisa objetiva investigar psicanaliticamente a experiência emocional de mães de crianças com diagnóstico de obesidade, justificando-se na medida em que o tratamento da condição, que inclui atenção psicológica, implica importante participação materna. O trabalho se organiza como estudo de caso da mãe de uma criança obesa em atendimento. O material clínico apresentado corresponde a duas narrativas transferenciais, relativas à história de vida e à entrevista individual da participante, que inclui suas manifestações produzidas em resposta ao Procedimento de Desenhos-Estórias com Tema. A consideração psicanalítica desse material permitiu a produção interpretativa de dois campos de sentido afetivo emocional: Sou mãe de um menino, logo existo e Minha mãe me ama, logo existo que apontam para dificuldades básicas e para movimentos de busca de constituição de si mesma como pessoa significativa para si e para o outro. Fica assim demonstrado que a experiência emocional materna, no caso estudado, está fortemente marcada por dificuldades subjetivas básicas, ligadas a processos de constituição de self, o que provavelmente afeta o cuidado psicológico do filho. Tal achado indica que é possível que a obesidade infantil seja expressão sintomática de complexas configurações familiares, de caráter transgeracional / The present study aims to psychoanalytically investigate the emotional experience of obesity diagnosis children´s mothers, justifying on the extent that the treatment of the condition, which includes psychological attention, implies important maternal participation. The work is organized as a case study of an obese in care child´s mother. The clinical material presented corresponds to two transferential narratives, related to life history and to individual participant interview, which includes their manifestation produced in response to the Theme Drawings-Story Procedure. The psychoanalytical consideration of this material allowed the interpretative production of two fields of emotional affection: I am a boy´s mother, so I exist and My mother loves me, so I exist, which points out to basic difficulties and to constitution seeking movements to herself as a significant person to her own and to the other individual. It is thus demonstrated that the maternal emotional experience, in the studied case, is strongly measured by basic subjective difficulties, linked to the constitution processes of self, which probably affects the psychological child´s care. Such discovery indicates it is possible that the childhood obesity is a symptomatic expression of family complex configuration, from a transgenerational nature

Since 1980, the obesity rate in children 5 to 11 years of age has increased from 7% to 18%. The lack of structured physical activity and poor dietary habits childhood are primary risk factors for obesity related comorbidities in adulthood. Guided by primary care providers, families can reverse childhood obesity by implementing healthy dietary habits and engaging in structured physical activity. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to develop an evidenced-based policy with procedures to standardize the timely and consistent identification of overweight children at a primary care clinic serving military families. With an emphasis on obesity prevention within families through primary care interventions, the revised health belief model guided the project design. A literature review was conducted in a systematic manner to identify effective strategies and interventions to inform the policy development. Then, the Delphi technique guided a 12-member expert panel to evaluate the policy and procedures in terms of the level of evidence and the implementation plan with the goal of achieving consensus with recommendations for revisions. Consensus was achieved with multiple revisions following the completion of two Delphi rounds. The first panel session (n=12) concluded with a 70% consensus, including recommended revisions to improve the policy implementation. The second panel session (n=12) concluded with 100% consensus for the revised policy. The final policy and procedures addressed the clinical practice gap with a robust process to identify, counsel, and refer overweight children to external specialty programs for obesity management. By intervening to reverse the progression of childhood obesity, this project achieved positive social change at an organization level.

Sammanfattning   Inledning: Barnfetman ökar i samhället, vilket innebär konsekvenser för folkhälsan. Socker finns tillsatt i både mat och dryck. Tidigare forskning har visat att en hög konsumtion av socker kan leda till en rad följdsjukdomar. Syftet med den här studien är att beskriva kopplingen mellan hög sockerkonsumtion och fetma hos barn i åldern 6–12 år.   Metod: Artikelsökningen genomfördes i PubMed, som är en sökmotor. 10 vetenskapliga originalartiklar valdes för denna litteraturöversikt. Artiklarna är etiskt granskade. Därefter gjordes en analys av artiklarna, som resulterade i fem olika teman.   Resultat: Resultatet visar att barns ökade sockerkonsumtion leder till fetma som i sin tur kan innebära följdsjukdomar. Det finns kopplingar mellan etnicitet och sockerkonsumtion. Det finns även samband mellan genus och hur sockerkonsumtionen ser ut.   Diskussion: Kostråden bör vara individanpassade och ta hänsyn till såväl etnicitet och genus. Mer information till föräldrar om sockrets negativa påverkan. Mer forskning behövs inom området. / Abstract   Background: Child obesity is on the increase in society, which could mean consequences for public health. Sugar is added to both food and drink. Earlier research has shown that a high consumption of sugar may lead to obesity related diseases. The aim of this study was to describe the association between high sugar consumption and child obesity in 6-12 years old.   Methods: The PubMed search engine was used to conduct the search. 10 ethically approved original articles were selected for this literature review and thereafter an analysis was made of these articles, which resulted in five different themes.   Results: The results show that the increased consumption of sugar in children may lead to obesity which in turn, may lead to other obesity related diseases. There is also an association between ethnicity and consumption of sugar and a connection between gender and how sugar is consumed.   Conclusions: Dietary advice should be personalized. Both ethnicity and gender should be taken into consideration and parents need to be constructively informed about the negative effects of sugar. More research needs to be done in this field.

Introduction Nutrition transition concerns the broad changes in the human diet that have occurred over time and space. In low- to middle-income countries such as Indonesia, nutrient transition describes shifts from traditional diets high in cereal and fibre towards Western pattern diets high in sugars, fat, and animal-source foods. This causes a swift increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity while undernutrition remains a great public health concern. Thus a double burden of malnutrition occurs in the population. The main aim of this investigation was to explore social and contextual determinants of malnutrition in Indonesia. The specific objectives were: (i) to examine body mass index (BMI) changes at the population level, and between and within socioeconomic groups; (ii) to estimate which context (i.e., household or district) has a greater effect on the variation of BMI; (iii) to assess the prevalence of double burden households (defined as the coexistence of underweight and overweight individuals residing in the same household) and its variation among communities as well as its determining factors; and (iv) to explore and understand what contributes to a double burden of malnutrition within a household by focusing on gender relations. Methods A mixed method approach was adopted in this study. For the quantitative analyses, nationally representative repeated cross-sectional survey data from four Indonesian Family Life Surveys (IFLS; 1993, 1997, 2000, 2007) were used. The IFLS contains information about individual-level, household-level and area-level characteristics. The analyses covered single and multilevel regressions. Data for the qualitative component were collected from sixteen focus group discussions conducted in Central Java and in the capital city Jakarta among 123 rural and urban men and women. Connell’s relational theory of gender and Charmaz’s constructive grounded theory were used to analyse the qualitative data. Results Greater increases in BMI were observed at higher percentiles compared to the segment of the population at lower percentiles. While inequalities in mean BMI decreased between socioeconomic groups, within group dispersion increased over time. Households were identified as an important social context in which the variation of BMI increased over time. Ignoring the household level did not change the relative variance contribution of districts on BMI in the contextual analysis. Approximately one-fifth of all households exhibited a double burden of malnutrition. Living in households with a higher socioeconomic status resulted in higher odds of double burden of malnutrition with the exception of women-headed households and communities with high social capital. The qualitative analysis resulted in the construction of three categories: capturing the significance of gendered power relations, the emerging obesogenic environment, and generational relations for child malnutrition. Conclusion At the population level, greater increases in within-group inequalities imply that growing inequalities in BMI were not merely driven by socioeconomic factors. This suggests that other under-recognised social and contextual factors may have a greater effect on the variation in BMI. At the contextual level, recognition of increased variation among households is important for creating strategies that respond to the differential needs of individuals within the same household. At the household level, women’s empowerment and community social capital should be promoted to reduce inequalities in the double burden of malnutrition across different socioeconomic groups. Ultimately community health and nutrition programmes will need to address gender empowerment and engage men in the fight against the emerging obesogenic environment and increased malnutrition that is evident within households, especially overweight and obesity among children.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:54:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SIDNEI JULIANI.pdf: 1930649 bytes, checksum: b2dfc9fb97117b01bdba43a40e44ccb6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-14 / Obesity is classified as a chronic non transmissible disease, the same as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and neoplasms. Due to precocious atherosclerosis lesions, the obese child has a higher probability of developing cardiovascular, metabolic or neoplastic diseases when adult. Besides all physical problems, obesity stigmatization, which leads to social, psychological and behavioral problems. This study drew the nutritional profile and determined the life habits of obese students from a sample of 125 children, ages 7 to 12 years, from a public elementary school in the town of Pontal do Araguaia, state of Mato Grosso , Brazil. Possible biochemical alterations that lead to metabolic alteration were sought, as well as their relationship with gender. Alterations were analyzed in: total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, glucose, uric acid and insulin. In addition, the quality of life of the selected group of obese children with that of an eutrophic group selected from the same sample of 125 children, using the AUQEI (Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé) scale. The results showed that 18% of the children were obese, 12% were overweight, 64.5% had normal weight and 5,5% were underweight. Unhealthy habits may have contributed to the obesity, e.g., having an overweight person in the family (75%), eating candies between the main meals (60%) and having the main meals in the living room, watching TV (60%). Biochemical alterations were identified in at least two analyzed parameters for 40% of the obese. The most altered metabolite was total cholesterol, which was elevated in 50% of the obese. Several metabolites were more compromised in boys than in girls, with significant a difference at p<0.05. The fact that alterations were verified in most children suggests a tendency to express metabolic syndrome. The eutrophic children had a better quality of life, with an average score of 52.55, while the obese group presented an average score of 47.50 (p<0.05). Furthermore, the quality of life of the obese children was below the cutoff point of 48. We conclude that the metabolism and the quality of life are impaired in the obese group. The prevalence of child obesity in the sample is similar to that found in other regions of the country. The presence of non-healthy habits can influence the susceptibility to obesity. We suggest that national efforts need to be made to prevent and treat child obesity by implementing public health and educational programs, aiming to reduce the negative impacts that obesity has on the child, which impair their physical and emotional health. / A obesidade é classificada como doença crônica não transmissível, assim como as doenças cardiovasculares, diabetes e neoplasias, e devido às lesões precoces de aterosclerose a criança obesa tem maior possibilidade de desenvolver doenças cardiovasculares, metabólicas ou neoplásicas, quando adulto. Além de todos os problemas relacionados à parte física, a obesidade pode prejudicar a qualidade de vida da criança, em razão das discriminações e estigmatizações sociais que a criança obesa pode sofrer, levando-a a ter problemas sociais, psicológicos e comportamentais. Este trabalho teve como objetivos verificar o perfil nutricional e os hábitos de vida de escolares obesos, a partir de uma amostra 125 crianças de 7 a 12 anos de uma escola pública municipal do município de Pontal do Araguaia - MT; verificar as possíveis alterações bioquímicas, precursoras de alterações metabólicas em crianças obesas e a relação dessas alterações com o sexo, submetidas aos exames de colesterol total, triglicérides, HDL colesterol, glicemia, ácido úrico e insulina. E finalmente, analisar comparativamente a qualidade de vida do grupo de crianças classificadas como obesas, com um grupo de eutróficas selecionadas a partir da mesma amostra de 125 crianças; utilizando-se como instrumento a Escala de AUQEI (Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé). Os resultados mostraram que 18% estavam com obesidade, 12% com sobrepeso, 64,5% com peso normal e 5,5% com déficit de peso, também verificou-se a presença de certos hábitos não saudáveis que podem estar contribuindo com a obesidade, como por exemplo: ter alguém na família com sobrepeso (75%), comer guloseimas entre as principais refeições (60%) e fazer as principais refeições na sala, assistindo televisão (60%). Foram identificadas alterações bioquímicas em pelo menos dois parâmetros analisados em 40% dos obesos. O metabólito que mais se alterou foi o colesterol total, aumentado em 50% dos obesos, além de ser constatado que vários metabólitos estavam mais comprometidos nos meninos do que nas meninas, com diferença significativa (p<0,05). As alterações verificadas em boa parte das crianças obesas sugerem certa propensão delas em apresentar síndrome metabólica. Verificou-se que as crianças eutróficas têm melhor qualidade de vida, apresentando escore médio de 52.55, enquanto o grupo de obesos apresentou escore médio de 47,50, que é uma diferença estatisticamente significativa (p=0,024), além disso, a qualidade de vida das crianças obesas encontra-se prejudicada, pois apresentou escore abaixo da nota de corte 48. Após os vários estudos realizados, concluímos que as alterações metabólicas e a qualidade de vida estão prejudicadas no grupo de obesos, além da prevalência de obesidade infantil na amostra estudada ser semelhante ao de outras regiões do país e de ser constatada a presença de hábitos não saudáveis nas crianças obesas que podem influenciar na obesidade. Verificouse assim com esse estudo a complexidade e a gravidade da questão da obesidade infantil. Dessa forma, sugere-se que sejam feitos esforços, em nível nacional, principalmente na prevenção e também no tratamento, por meio da implantação de políticas públicas na área de saúde pública e educação, visando diminuir o impacto negativo que a obesidade provoca na criança, comprometendo sua saúde física e emocional.

Introduction: Obesity development is one of the most obvious - and at the same time, one of the most neglected - public health problems (WHO, 2018). Objective: The primary purpose was to investigate the understanding of the factors behind childhood obesity in a limited group of participants living in three areas in Viña del Mar, Chile; Reñaca Alto, Santa Inés and Center. The secondary purpose of the study was to elucidate the perception of the authorities' health-promoting efforts among participants in different socio-economic groups in these areas. The two main research questions were: What are the views of the residents of Viña del Mar about the factors behind childhood obesity? What are the opinions of residents of Viña del Mar about measures to counteract the problem? Method: The study is a cross-sectional survey (n = 63) and the data were collected and analysed using SPSS statistical program and an Excel program. The results are presented through descriptive statistics, in the form of tables. Results: The survey was answered by 63 persons, representing 63 families, consisting of a total of 231 persons, divided into 156 adults and 75 children. The results show that 15% of the participants do not know the severity of child obesity. Furthermore, 88% of the participants perceive that the household economy is the main significant risk factor for child obesity, followed by a high consumption of sugar and sugar-containing products. In addition, participants perceive that it is possible to influence the childhood obesity epidemic and 84% of participants feel that the family can have a positive influence on childhood obesity, but more tools are needed in the form of knowledge and support. The results show that only 10% of the participants think that the authorities are making a considerable effort, while 49% (n = 25) think that they are not doing enough. Behaviour-changing measures show a better result in population groups with a high SEP (Socio Economic Position) than in those with a low, since the former are more influenced by the information. However, a multidisciplinary holistic perspective is needed on health promotion work. If the SES gap (Socio Economic Status) is reduced and SEP equated, more people can get advice and be given the opportunity to have a healthy lifestyle. Socioeconomic factors affect the risk of childhood obesity in particular in economic transition processes. If SEP and SES, both individually and socially, change from poor to rich, child obesity in society increases and Chile is an example of this phenomenon. The health promotion efforts in the country are multifaceted and innovative in many ways and there are many actors working with these. However, the question is how effective the efforts are when the work is done in many different forms and often without being anchored to one another. Finally, prevention efforts should be developed and implemented in collaboration with the target groups.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:46:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SIDNEI JULIANI.pdf: 1930649 bytes, checksum: b2dfc9fb97117b01bdba43a40e44ccb6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-14 / Obesity is classified as a chronic non transmissible disease, the same as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and neoplasms. Due to precocious atherosclerosis lesions, the obese child has a higher probability of developing cardiovascular, metabolic or neoplastic diseases when adult. Besides all physical problems, obesity stigmatization, which leads to social, psychological and behavioral problems. This study drew the nutritional profile and determined the life habits of obese students from a sample of 125 children, ages 7 to 12 years, from a public elementary school in the town of Pontal do Araguaia, state of Mato Grosso , Brazil. Possible biochemical alterations that lead to metabolic alteration were sought, as well as their relationship with gender. Alterations were analyzed in: total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, glucose, uric acid and insulin. In addition, the quality of life of the selected group of obese children with that of an eutrophic group selected from the same sample of 125 children, using the AUQEI (Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé) scale. The results showed that 18% of the children were obese, 12% were overweight, 64.5% had normal weight and 5,5% were underweight. Unhealthy habits may have contributed to the obesity, e.g., having an overweight person in the family (75%), eating candies between the main meals (60%) and having the main meals in the living room, watching TV (60%). Biochemical alterations were identified in at least two analyzed parameters for 40% of the obese. The most altered metabolite was total cholesterol, which was elevated in 50% of the obese. Several metabolites were more compromised in boys than in girls, with significant a difference at p<0.05. The fact that alterations were verified in most children suggests a tendency to express metabolic syndrome. The eutrophic children had a better quality of life, with an average score of 52.55, while the obese group presented an average score of 47.50 (p<0.05). Furthermore, the quality of life of the obese children was below the cutoff point of 48. We conclude that the metabolism and the quality of life are impaired in the obese group. The prevalence of child obesity in the sample is similar to that found in other regions of the country. The presence of non-healthy habits can influence the susceptibility to obesity. We suggest that national efforts need to be made to prevent and treat child obesity by implementing public health and educational programs, aiming to reduce the negative impacts that obesity has on the child, which impair their physical and emotional health. / RESUMO A obesidade é classificada como doença crônica não transmissível, assim como as doenças cardiovasculares, diabetes e neoplasias, e devido às lesões precoces de aterosclerose a criança obesa tem maior possibilidade de desenvolver doenças cardiovasculares, metabólicas ou neoplásicas, quando adulto. Além de todos os problemas relacionados à parte física, a obesidade pode prejudicar a qualidade de vida da criança, em razão das discriminações e estigmatizações sociais que a criança obesa pode sofrer, levando-a a ter problemas sociais, psicológicos e comportamentais. Este trabalho teve como objetivos verificar o perfil nutricional e os hábitos de vida de escolares obesos, a partir de uma amostra 125 crianças de 7 a 12 anos de uma escola pública municipal do município de Pontal do Araguaia - MT; verificar as possíveis alterações bioquímicas, precursoras de alterações metabólicas em crianças obesas e a relação dessas alterações com o sexo, submetidas aos exames de colesterol total, triglicérides, HDL colesterol, glicemia, ácido úrico e insulina. E finalmente, analisar comparativamente a qualidade de vida do grupo de crianças classificadas como obesas, com um grupo de eutróficas selecionadas a partir da mesma amostra de 125 crianças; utilizando-se como instrumento a Escala de AUQEI (Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé). Os resultados mostraram que 18% estavam com obesidade, 12% com sobrepeso, 64,5% com peso normal e 5,5% com déficit de peso, também verificou-se a presença de certos hábitos não saudáveis que podem estar contribuindo com a obesidade, como por exemplo: ter alguém na família com sobrepeso (75%), comer guloseimas entre as principais refeições (60%) e fazer as principais refeições na sala, assistindo televisão (60%). Foram identificadas alterações bioquímicas em pelo menos dois parâmetros analisados em 40% dos obesos. O metabólito que mais se alterou foi o colesterol total, aumentado em 50% dos obesos, além de ser constatado que vários metabólitos estavam mais comprometidos nos meninos do que nas meninas, com diferença significativa (p<0,05). As alterações verificadas em boa parte das crianças obesas sugerem certa propensão delas em apresentar síndrome metabólica. Verificou-se que as crianças eutróficas têm melhor qualidade de vida, apresentando escore médio de 52.55, enquanto o grupo de obesos apresentou escore médio de 47,50, que é uma diferença estatisticamente significativa (p=0,024), além disso, a qualidade de vida das crianças obesas encontra-se prejudicada, pois apresentou escore abaixo da nota de corte 48. Após os vários estudos realizados, concluímos que as alterações metabólicas e a qualidade de vida estão prejudicadas no grupo de obesos, além da prevalência de obesidade infantil na amostra estudada ser semelhante ao de outras regiões do país e de ser constatada a presença de hábitos não saudáveis nas crianças obesas que podem influenciar na obesidade. Verificouse assim com esse estudo a complexidade e a gravidade da questão da obesidade infantil. Dessa forma, sugere-se que sejam feitos esforços, em nível nacional, principalmente na prevenção e também no tratamento, por meio da implantação de políticas públicas na área de saúde pública e educação, visando diminuir o impacto negativo que a obesidade provoca na criança, comprometendo sua saúde física e emocional.

Background: Canadian youth obesity, and comorbidities, have paralleled trends in consuming nutrient-poor foods marketed by the food industry. In Canada, food marketing is largely self-regulated by the food industry under the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI). Methods: Public television programming records benchmarked the volume of food advertising targeted to preschoolers, children, adolescents, and adults on Canadian television. Food advertising rates and frequencies were compared by age group, television station, month, food category, and company, using regression modelling, chi-square tests and principal component analysis. Results: Food advertising rates significantly differed by all independent variables. Fast food companies dominated advertising during adolescent-programming while food and beverage manufacturers dominated advertising during programming to all other age groups. CAI signatories contributed more advertising during children’s programming than non-signatories. Conclusion: Failings of self-regulation in limiting food advertising to Canadian youth demonstrate the need for statutory restrictions to rectify youth’s obesogenic media environments and their far-reaching health effects.