Ellen, Age 11, Castlegar
2nd Session, 38th Parliament – November 29, 2006
< The Role of Communities – Table of Contents – Bringing Overweight and Obesity to the Forefront >
Ellen, Age 11, Castlegar
Obesity in children is much easier to prevent than to treat. Prevention can begin very early – in early infancy with a baby’s first meal. Some recent research studies have concluded that newborns who are breastfed for the first six months of life are less likely to become obese than babies who consume commercial formula products.47 In fact, the longer an infant is breastfed, the greater the protective effects against obesity.
Human breast milk contains fats and proteins significantly different from those available in commercial formula products. Proteins from breast milk are not stored and will, therefore not become fat, thus reducing he risk of obesity.
Since 2005, the Canadian Paediatric Society has recommended exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life for healthy, term infants.48 The Society identifies breast milk as the optimal food for infants and recommends that breastfeeding should continue for up to two years. This recommendation is in keeping with those of Health Canada and the World Health Organization.
The nutritional and health benefits of breastfeeding for infants are well documented. The natural components of breast milk are easily digested by infants and are rich in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients required for proper growth and development. It provides babies with the enzymes and antibodies they are not able to produce themselves, and protects them against food and other allergies as they grow older. Compared to commercial formula, breastfeeding is low in cost and requires no preparation. There is perhaps an unexpected side benefit: new mothers who breastfeed can also burn up almost 500 calories each day, helping them return to their pre-pregnancy weight sooner.
This all sounds simple. For new mothers it is anything but! While breastfeeding is a natural act, it is also a learned skill. The Committee recognizes that for many new mothers breastfeeding is a challenging and time-consuming routine for both mother and baby. Society and the workplace do not easily accommodate breastfeeding mothers.
Because of these factors, even given the additional cost of purchasing commercial formula products and bottles, many women choose to end breastfeeding after a few weeks, and others may not even start. If more women are provided with encouragement, relevant information, support, and assistance, more may decide to make the healthy choice to begin or sustain breastfeeding. There is a need for support from medical professionals, midwives, lactation consultants, hospitals, and community health centres, particularly those with pre- and post-natal support programs, including those aimed at first-time mothers.
Another key factor in many mothers’ decisions to continue or stop breastfeeding is the transition to return to work the end of their maternity or parental leave. As noted by the recent Provincial Health Officer’s report, more women might choose to sustain breastfeeding if employment policies were more flexible, and more efforts were made to accommodate breastfeeding or expressing milk.49 The government could consider legislative or regulatory action in this area to enforce appropriate workplace standards.
The Committee is encouraged that many employers have voluntarily introduced programs to accommodate working mothers who choose to continue to breastfeed, but there is still room for improvement. The provincial government also has an important role to play in modeling comprehensive workplace wellness programs, including the accommodation of breastfeeding wherever possible.
The Committee recommends that:
This is where it starts, zero to six, because if you don’t have good awareness and start good habits, you’re just going to compound the problems in the future. If you have good interventions and prevention programs, zero to six, it’s going to cost a lot less down the road. (L. Locher, Fort St. John)
Early childhood development is the growth of a child that takes place from pre-conception and birth through six years of age. Currently, there are 246,000 children under the age of six in British Columbia.50 These early years of life provide a crucial foundation for a child’s overall health, well-being, and learning skills. Very young children are notably more reliant than older children on parents and caregivers to provide opportunities for regular physical activities that are fun and easy to do, such as walking, playing ball, and unorganized active playtime. Like older children, preschoolers also require a variety of healthy food choices throughout the day. Parents and caregivers are uniquely positioned to model healthy eating, thereby helping to establish positive nutritional habits early in life.
Figure 6: Prevalence of overweight (squares) and obesity (triangles) among preschool children in Newfoundland and Labrador, by sex and age group (mo=months). Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
Source: Patricia M. Canning, Mary L. Courage and Lynn M. Frizzell, (2004), “Prevalence of overweight and obesity in a
provincial population of Canadian preschool children,” Canadian Medical Association Journal, 171 (3), 241.
Although we do not have the benefit of extensive data on our own provincial rate of overweight and obesity amongst preschoolers, many other jurisdictions are now reporting similar trends among preschool children.51 For example, a recent study of preschoolers from Newfoundland and Labrador found that 25.6 percent of pre-schoolers aged three to five, were already overweight or obese.52 Just as childhood obesity has serious implications for future adult health, preschool obesity has serious implications for future child health and may require the need for interventions beginning at an even earlier age.
2004 Committee The health care sector should be utilized more effectively to take a proactive role in the early identification and treatment of early childhood problems. Children who are identified must be able to access proven and effective services. |
The Committee, therefore, concludes that more information and data should be collected to support the design of effective interventions for very young children. Furthermore, public health strategies for combatting childhood obesity should also include early prevention measures for preschool children. These programs would be most effective if they incorporated parental education and involvement and if they started before children reach school age — or in some cases even before the age of three.
Although the Committee heard about a few innovative programs to promote healthy living and physical activity to very young children and their parents, we also heard that this age cohort needs more in the way of targeted programs. One program described to us, the Literacy, Education Activity and Play (LEAP) Program, promotes literacy in children up to age five by integrating reading and language skills with play. Through the program, parents and caregivers are able to access tools and resources to help them promote more physical activity and healthy eating in their children, while engaging them in literacy activities such as singing, rhymes, movement and games. Recently, the province formally committed $2.7 million under its ActNow BC strategy to the program to increase healthy living skills in preschool children.53
Another key program is the provincially sponsored Success By 6 program; a prevention-focused, community-based initiative dedicated to help children ages zero to six develop the emotional, social, cognitive, and physical skills they need to enter school. The program is based on a partnership between provincial credit unions, the United Way, the Ministry of Children and Family Development, and local communities.
While these two programs are good examples of provincial initiatives currently underway, the Committee concludes that a more effective strategy should be developed with key stakeholders to ensure that British Columbia’s youngest citizens may benefit from an effective, preventative program to combat overweight and obesity in early childhood years.
The Committee recommends that:
< The Role of Communities – Table of Contents – Bringing Overweight and Obesity to the Forefront >
© 2006 Legislative Assembly of British Columbia