Study Shows Link Between Childhood Obesity And SARS-CoV-2 Infection!

Obesity has become a global epidemic that affects both the mental and physical health of people. Not only adults but also children nowadays are affected by the impacts of obesity. The rate of obese people is increasing day by day regardless of their age, sex, and color.

Children’s Obesity And SARS-CoV-2 Infection Linked!

Over 650 million adults are obese and the obesity rate of children is also no different. More than 340 million children between the age of 5-19 are obese. But what really is obesity? And what causes obesity?

Obesity/overweight is the result of excessive fat accumulations in the body which may cause adverse effects on your health. These fat accumulations can be because of lifestyle, food habits, and cultural diversities. A high amount of calorie and fat intake with less physical activities in your life can pave the way for obesity which may later change into severe chronic diseases. 

The major reason for obesity is the imbalance between the fat intake and the fat burned for the production of energy. Even though fat is an ideal source of energy, our body uses carbs and glucose for energy production. Thus the fat we consume gets accumulated resulting in excess weight gain. In the modern lifestyle, people mostly prefer consuming excessive sugar and increased portion size foods rather than healthy and controlled foods. This excessive intake of fat and lack of physical activities will cause harmful effects on your health in the future in the form of chronic disease and a weak immune system.  

From the latest study published in the International Journal of Obesity, it is proven that childhood obesity will result in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Obesity in childhood will stay even if they reach adulthood, also the chances of getting affected by non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases are very high from their young age itself. 

The study is carried out with the details collected from the Longitudinal Childhood Obesity Study (ELOIN) and the epidemiological surveillance system data. More than 2000 participants were included in the study and have undergone physical tests that measured their height, weight, and waist circumference at the age of 4, 6, and 9. The general obesity and abdominal obesity of these participants were measured following the international criteria. 

According to the researchers, SARS-CoV-2 infection will lead to COVID-19 disease which has become a global pandemic in the past few years and has been a major reason for the death of hundreds of thousands all around the globe. The infection rate of children and adolescents was low when compared with adults who were mostly affected by the disease, but taking the case of obese/overweight children, there is a high chance of getting severely affected by the disease. 

Several other health conditions like sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, menstrual abnormalities, etc were mainly seen in adults but nowadays these can be seen also in obese children. Some of these conditions could get worse and even can cause the death of the child. But all these can be prevented once the child gets back to their normal body weight. 

From the study, the researchers concluded that children below the age of 9 who are obese, both general obesity(GO) and abdominal obesity(AO), have three times the higher risk of getting affected by the infection when compared to kids who have normal weight. Also, childhood obesity not only increases the risk of getting affected by infections but also could end in disabilities in adulthood and even premature death. This can be reduced only if society considers childhood obesity as a serious issue that must be taken care of for better and healthy future generations.