**Abstract**

The global prevalence of obesity has doubled from 1990 to 2015. Worryingly, the increase is more in children than in adults. In just three decades, the number of school-going children and adolescents with obesity has increased by 10-fold, and the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) reckon that 200 million school children worldwide are either overweight or obese. The prevalence of obesity among 5- to 19-year-old Indian children, ranged between 3.6 and 11.7%. It is predicted that by 2025 there will be 17 million obese children in India. Urbanisation is the single most important factor linked to obesity in India. Epigenetic, dietary, familial, psychosocial, parental education and parental occupation are other important factors. About 50% of obese children will become obese adults. The prevalence of hypertension, type 2 diabetes dyslipidaemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children is also increasing parallelly. Prevention of childhood obesity is vital because it is near impossible to get children to lose weight and maintain it. A healthy diet and an active lifestyle should start from the pre-conception time itself and be continued through all stages of childhood.

**Keywords:** India, childhood, overweight, obesity, causes, consequences

## **1. Introduction**

Non-communicable diseases are the biggest public health challenge of this century, and childhood obesity is an important part of this. Its rates have tripled in the US over the past 30 years. Today, 17% of US adolescents and 16% of children between 2 and 11 years are obese with prevalence being highest among Black and Hispanic children and adolescents [1]. Childhood obesity was so far thought to be a problem of the developed world, but it is increasingly being reported from middle- and low-income countries, especially from urban areas [2]. Obesity in children is not as easy to quantify as in adults. Body mass index is not an accurate measure of obesity in children. It is important to recognise childhood obesity and manage it, because if untreated, it can result in obesity in adulthood with all its attendant metabolic complications. Childhood obesity also has a deep psychosocial impact and is consistently associated with lower scholastic achievements. Weight once gained is difficult to lose, and hence prevention is important. This assumes greater significance with regards to children as compared to adults, because they are more susceptible to the constant bombardment by advertisements for energydense food [3]. Immuring them from an obesogenic environment is a priority and a challenge. A number of innovative programmes to tackle childhood obesity have

been tried in different countries, and each one of them has important lessons for public health specialists and health policy makers. The WHO's Commission for Ending Childhood Obesity opines that this problem requires, 'a whole-government approach in which policies across all sectors systematically take health into account, avoid harmful health impacts, and thus improve population health and health equity' [4]. The magnitude of the problem, causative factors, complications of childhood obesity and some solutions will be discussed.
