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Effects of Nutrition and Physical Activity Lifestyle Interventions on Childhood Obesity

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Obesity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2024 | Viewed by 760

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Life Sciences, Birmingham City University, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3TN, UK
Interests: diets or nutritional supplements across the lifespan; lifestyle interventions, especially to prevent diabetes and cardiovascular disease; obesity prevention strategies in children and adolescents; cellular physiological mechanisms determining adaptations to exercise training or nutritional supplementation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Childhood obesity continues to increase globally in both developed and developing countries, leading to debilitating chronic diseases. Chilldhood obesity has quadrupled in the last four decades, and obesity complications and comorbidities are no longer adult diseases, but are becoming highly prevalent among children and adolescents, especially diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver and cardiorespiratory diseases. Interventions at all levels are needed, especially lifestyle-related interventions.

This Special Issue aims to bring research on lifestyle obesity interventions to the forefront. Nutritional eating behaviour and physical activity are the two modifiable factors towards a disease-free life. Interventions aimed at modifying diets, nutritional supplementation, alone or with modifying physical activity or exercise, are a contemporary scientific issue across the lifespan from childhood to older age. Therefore, we welcome submissions in any of these areas, including understanding obesity determinants in early years and intervention physical activity/exercise approaches.  

Childhood obesity-preventative interventionsions the home, school, healthcare and community settings can be effective. Evidence suggests that interventions must target the appropriate developmental stage and ideally include multiple components (e.g, nutrition and physical activity) and settings or levels (e.g., family, school, policy, neighbourhood environment). Obesity interventions help ameliorate physiological-based risks of obesity, including metabolic, hormonal and immunological adversities.

All study types (clinical and randomised trials, physiological, behavioural and psycho-social) and designs (interventions, epidemiology, cross-sectional, modelling) are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Ahmad Alkhatib
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • obesity
  • weight loss
  • nutrition
  • supplement
  • diet
  • children and adolescents
  • health behavior
  • lifestyle
  • school
  • intervention
  • diabetes
  • cardiovascular
  • metabolic
  • disease
  • chronic disease

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

18 pages, 976 KiB  
Review
Childhood Obesity and Its Comorbidities in High-Risk Minority Populations: Prevalence, Prevention and Lifestyle Intervention Guidelines
by Ahmad Alkhatib and George Obita
Nutrients 2024, 16(11), 1730; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16111730 - 31 May 2024
Viewed by 558
Abstract
The prevalence of childhood obesity and its associated comorbidities is a growing global health problem that disproportionately affects populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and minority ethnicities in high-income countries (HICs). The increased childhood obesity disparities among populations reflect two concerns: one [...] Read more.
The prevalence of childhood obesity and its associated comorbidities is a growing global health problem that disproportionately affects populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and minority ethnicities in high-income countries (HICs). The increased childhood obesity disparities among populations reflect two concerns: one is HICs’ ineffective intervention approaches in terms of lifestyle, nutrition and physical activity in minority populations, and the second is the virtually non-existent lifestyle obesity interventions in LMICs. This article provides guidelines on childhood obesity and its comorbidities in high-risk minority populations based on understanding the prevalence and effectiveness of preventative lifestyle interventions. First, we highlight how inadequate obesity screening by body mass index (BMI) can be resolved by using objective adiposity fat percentage measurements alongside anthropometric and physiological components, including lean tissue and bone density. National healthcare childhood obesity prevention initiatives should embed obesity cut-off points for minority ethnicities, especially Asian and South Asian ethnicities within UK and USA populations, whose obesity-related metabolic risks are often underestimated. Secondly, lifestyle interventions are underutilised in children and adolescents with obesity and its comorbidities, especially in minority ethnicity population groups. The overwhelming evidence on lifestyle interventions involving children with obesity comorbidities from ethnic minority populations shows that personalised physical activity and nutrition interventions are successful in reversing obesity and its secondary cardiometabolic disease risks, including those related to cardiorespiratory capacity, blood pressure and glucose/insulin levels. Interventions combining cultural contextualisation and better engagement with families are the most effective in high-risk paediatric minority populations but are non-uniform amongst different minority communities. A sustained preventative health impact can be achieved through the involvement of the community, with stakeholders comprising healthcare professionals, nutritionists, exercise science specialists and policy makers. Our guidelines for obesity assessment and primary and secondary prevention of childhood obesity and associated comorbidities in minority populations are fundamental to reducing global and local health disparities and improving quality of life. Full article
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