SNAKE AND LADDER NUTRITIONAL GAME FOR ENHANCEDHEALTH STATUS OF OBESE CHILDREN

Abstract

“Doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather
will cure and prevent disease with nutrition and exercise”
Thomas Alva Edison (1903)
Overweight and Obesity are among the most prevalent nutritional problems in developed
and developing countries. Obesity is essentially a disorder of energy balance characterized by an
excess of body fat. It is chronic and often associated with a wide range of metabolic
abnormalities and degenerative diseases, some of which could be life- threatening. About 1.2
billion people in the world are overweight and at least
300 million of them are obese (Ozcirpici et al., 2009). The problem is confined to not only adults
but also the prevalence of overweight / obesity among children and adolescents have been
documented over the last few decades and 30 per cent of obesity begins in childhood.
Consequences of childhood obesity include immediate adverse effects on quality of life
like low interactions in school, decreased play activities and poor social interaction. Obese
children face personality problems like low self-esteem, low self-confidence, lack of initiative,
poor concentration, lack of leadership, low threshold of frustration, tolerance, introverted,
dependency and heightened emotionality.
The major causes of the epidemic in India include changes in lifestyle due to
urbanization. The components of urbanization are unhealthy eating pattern, sedentary behavior
and decreased physical activity (Styne, 2001). Traditional micronutrient rich foods are being
replaced by energy dense, highly processed, poor nutrient foods with increased portion sizes.
Actually all celebrations and festivals in India seem to be centered on rich foods. Eminently high
calorie snacks, junk food revolution, carbonated drink colonization and food as rewards to
children are the unhealthy eating patterns cultivated by urban population, which becomes the
major contributors to weight gain in children.
Sedentary pursuits include television watching, internet gazing, video games and
telephonic conversations, which are now important activities in children causing childhood
obesity (Lobstein, 2004). Another important etiology of obesity is decreased physical activities
in children, which may be due to unsafe roads where children are strictly discouraged fromwalking or cycling to school and playing outdoor games. In addition, children are forced to use
their playtime for additional studies due to the intense competition for admissions to schools
with flourishing tuition classes. As against food as rewards, ironically exercise is meted out as
punishments. All these factors leads to weight gain in children.
IJARR, 1(6), 2016; 196-207
196
International Journal of Advanced Research and Reviewwww.ijarr.in
SNAKE AND LADDER NUTRITIONAL GAME FOR ENHANCEDHEALTH STATUS OF OBESE CHILDREN
Dr.G.G.Kavitha Shree, Dr.M.R.Premalatha and Dr.J.Pushpa
Assistant Professor, KVK, Needamangalam, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
Professor and Head (Retd), Dept of Food Science and Nutrition, Home Science College and Research Institute,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai.
Professor, Dept of Extension, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Madurai. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
“Doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather
will cure and prevent disease with nutrition and exercise”
Thomas Alva Edison (1903)
Overweight and Obesity are among the most prevalent nutritional problems in developed
and developing countries. Obesity is essentially a disorder of energy balance characterized by an
excess of body fat. It is chronic and often associated with a wide range of metabolic
abnormalities and degenerative diseases, some of which could be life- threatening. About 1.2
billion people in the world are overweight and at least
300 million of them are obese (Ozcirpici et al., 2009). The problem is confined to not only adults
but also the prevalence of overweight / obesity among children and adolescents have been
documented over the last few decades and 30 per cent of obesity begins in childhood.
Consequences of childhood obesity include immediate adverse effects on quality of life
like low interactions in school, decreased play activities and poor social interaction. Obese
children face personality problems like low self-esteem, low self-confidence, lack of initiative,
poor concentration, lack of leadership, low threshold of frustration, tolerance, introverted,
dependency and heightened emotionality.
The major causes of the epidemic in India include changes in lifestyle due to
urbanization. The components of urbanization are unhealthy eating pattern, sedentary behavior
and decreased physical activity (Styne, 2001). Traditional micronutrient rich foods are being
replaced by energy dense, highly processed, poor nutrient foods with increased portion sizes.
Actually all celebrations and festivals in India seem to be centered on rich foods. Eminently high
calorie snacks, junk food revolution, carbonated drink colonization and food as rewards to
children are the unhealthy eating patterns cultivated by urban population, which becomes the
major contributors to weight gain in children.
Sedentary pursuits include television watching, internet gazing, video games and
telephonic conversations, which are now important activities in children causing childhood
obesity (Lobstein, 2004). Another important etiology of obesity is decreased physical activities
in children, which may be due to unsafe roads where children are strictly discouraged fromwalking or cycling to school and playing outdoor games. In addition, children are forced to use
their playtime for additional studies due to the intense competition for admissions to schools
with flourishing tuition classes. As against food as rewards, ironically exercise is meted out as
punishments. All these factors leads to weight gain in children.
IJARR, 1(6), 2016; 196-207
196
International Journal of Advanced Research and Reviewwww.ijarr.in
SNAKE AND LADDER NUTRITIONAL GAME FOR ENHANCEDHEALTH STATUS OF OBESE CHILDREN
Dr.G.G.Kavitha Shree, Dr.M.R.Premalatha and Dr.J.Pushpa
Assistant Professor, KVK, Needamangalam, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
Professor and Head (Retd), Dept of Food Science and Nutrition, Home Science College and Research Institute,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai.
Professor, Dept of Extension, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Madurai. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
“Doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather
will cure and prevent disease with nutrition and exercise”
Thomas Alva Edison (1903)
Overweight and Obesity are among the most prevalent nutritional problems in developed
and developing countries. Obesity is essentially a disorder of energy balance characterized by an
excess of body fat. It is chronic and often associated with a wide range of metabolic
abnormalities and degenerative diseases, some of which could be life- threatening. About 1.2
billion people in the world are overweight and at least
300 million of them are obese (Ozcirpici et al., 2009). The problem is confined to not only adults
but also the prevalence of overweight / obesity among children and adolescents have been
documented over the last few decades and 30 per cent of obesity begins in childhood.
Consequences of childhood obesity include immediate adverse effects on quality of life
like low interactions in school, decreased play activities and poor social interaction. Obese
children face personality problems like low self-esteem, low self-confidence, lack of initiative,
poor concentration, lack of leadership, low threshold of frustration, tolerance, introverted,
dependency and heightened emotionality.
The major causes of the epidemic in India include changes in lifestyle due to
urbanization. The components of urbanization are unhealthy eating pattern, sedentary behavior
and decreased physical activity (Styne, 2001). Traditional micronutrient rich foods are being
replaced by energy dense, highly processed, poor nutrient foods with increased portion sizes.
Actually all celebrations and festivals in India seem to be centered on rich foods. Eminently high
calorie snacks, junk food revolution, carbonated drink colonization and food as rewards to
children are the unhealthy eating patterns cultivated by urban population, which becomes the
major contributors to weight gain in children.
Sedentary pursuits include television watching, internet gazing, video games and
telephonic conversations, which are now important activities in children causing childhood
obesity (Lobstein, 2004). Another important etiology of obesity is decreased physical activities
in children, which may be due to unsafe roads where children are strictly discouraged fromwalking or cycling to school and playing outdoor games. In addition, children are forced to use
their playtime for additional studies due to the intense competition for admissions to schools
with flourishing tuition classes. As against food as reward.