DO YOUNG POLISH CHILDREN STRUGGLE WITH OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY?

Background
Excess body mass is an alarming issue among children today. The goal of the study was to evaluate the nutritional status of young primary-aged school children in Poland.

Material and methods
The study included children (n=908) between 6 and 10 years of age attending elementary schools in urban and rural areas of Poland. An original questionnaire was used as the research tool in the study, which parents of the children completed. The questionnaire contained 40 questions divided into 4 parts (basic anthropometric data and family information, dietary habits, level of physical activity and level of parents’ knowledge about principles of nutrition). Nutritional status was defined by BMI values based on standardized BMI charts recommended by WHO.

Results
The study found that 74.7% of children had a normal or ideal body mass and 17.1% had excess body weight (overweight and obesity). Obesity was found in 6.8% of children and overweight in 10.3%. The study didn’t reveal any significant differences in the prevalence of obesity among boys versus girls; however, overweight was found to be significantly higher among boys compared with girls (p<0.05). Children’s nutritional status was similar regardless of where they lived.

Conclusions
Eating disorders have become more prevalent in recent times and obesity was found to be the most uncommon eating disorder in this study group, as opposed to overweight, which was the most common. However, because the study was based on a self-reporting questionnaire, there may be issues of accuracy, reliability and compliance, especially in case of weight disorders.