Obesity, myopia, and abnormal curvature of the spine are the three major hidden dangers that endanger the health of children and adolescents on the mainland at present. How to prevent and control these three common diseases is a problem that parents are very concerned about.
Recently, Guo Xin, director of the School Health Institute of the Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was a guest in the "Health Everyone Talks" live broadcast room to answer questions for parents and escort the healthy growth of their children.
Childhood obesity
The risk of chronic disease increases in adulthood
01
Is "childhood obesity is innate", is this statement accurate?
Guo Xin: Obesity is caused by multiple factors, because energy intake exceeds energy expenditure, resulting in excessive accumulation of body fat, reaching a chronic metabolic disease that endangers health.
The influencing factors of childhood obesity are multifaceted and can be roughly divided into genetic factors and environmental factors. Genetic factors account for 40% to 70% of obesity. In recent years, overweight and obesity in children have shown a rapid upward trend, mainly caused by environmental factors.
Environmental factors include some individual factors, such as the status of personal dietary intake, physical activity, daily life, etc., children do not eat breakfast, often drink sugary drinks, overeating is prone to obesity.
02
Does childhood obesity affect health in adulthood?
Guo Xin: If childhood obesity is not controlled in time, it will not only affect the health of childhood, but even affect the health of adulthood. Childhood obesity leads to an increased risk of chronic diseases in adulthood, such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and other risks.
The impact of obesity on children's individual health can be divided into four aspects: one is to affect the growth and development of children, the second is to affect children's brain and intellectual development, the third is to affect the development of children's motor ability, and the fourth is to affect the child's psychology. Obesity not only affects the growth and development of children and physical and mental health, but also causes harm to family health and social development.
03
How can childhood obesity be prevented?
Guo Xin: Ensure a regular and nutritious diet and scientific and adequate exercise.
- The diet recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016) is: carbohydrates account for 50% to 60%, fats account for 20% to 30%, and proteins account for 15% to 25%.
- Eat a good breakfast and eat regularly. The energy provided by breakfast should account for 25% to 30% of the energy of the whole day, 30% to 40% for lunch, and 30% to 35% for dinner.
- Pay attention to the variety of food varieties, the child's daily intake of food types is best to reach 12 kinds, a week to reach 25 kinds.
- Ensure your child's intake of cereals.
- Create a relaxed and pleasant dining atmosphere, eat attentively, and do not eat while watching mobile phones and TV.
- Snack in moderation, do not replace three meals with snacks. It is best to snack between meals, snacking not exceeding 10% of the total energy of the day.
Athletic aspects
- Students are required to have at least 1 hour of moderate to high intensity physical activity per day.
- Reduce static behavior. Your child's electronics should not be used for more than 2 hours a day. Get up and move for 10 minutes every hour of sitting.
- Cultivate children's interest in sports, so that children have 1 to 2 favorite sports.
Parental myopia
It is possible to pass it on to the child
04
What is the difference between true myopia and false myopia?
Guo Xin: In fact, there is no such thing as pseudo-myopia in medicine. The so-called pseudo-myopia is actually due to the degree of myopia that the eyeball does not adjust and relax, and it is not true myopia. If after eye drops with ciliary muscle paralysis drugs, refraction still has a degree of myopia, that is true myopia.
Adolescent eyeballs are in the period of development, the so-called pseudomyopia is more like the early stage of true myopia, if not alleviated in time, it may eventually cause the growth of the eye axis and become true myopia.
05
Will parental myopia really be passed on to their children?
Guo Xin: Relevant studies show that myopia has a certain hereditary nature, but there are also different situations. If one or both parents are highly myopic (above 600 degrees), the child's chances of developing myopia are greatly increased. Low and moderate myopia (below 600 degrees) is more affected by environmental factors such as daily living habits, reading habits, and outdoor activity time.
Parents should judge whether the child is at high risk, medium risk or low risk according to the eye condition of themselves and their spouses, and pay close attention to the child's vision status.
06
Myopia treatment device, can it really cure myopia?
Guo Xin: First of all, we must be clear that once myopia occurs, it cannot be reversed. As of now, there is no cure for myopia in medicine, and parents should not believe in the commercial marketing of "can cure myopia". Unscientific treatment may lead to further deterioration of children's vision, and even cause serious consequences such as eye infections.
For myopia, progress can only be delayed through scientific and standardized prevention and control.
Parents should start from "maintaining good eye behavior, building a visually friendly environment, and increasing daytime outdoor activities" to delay the development of myopia and avoid becoming highly myopic. At present, the clinical use of low-concentration atropine or orokeratology (OK mirror) to slow down the progression of myopia, but it is recommended to go to a regular medical institution, under the guidance of a doctor, and follow the doctor's instructions.
Check yourself regularly
Identify signals of scoliosis in children
07
What is wrong with abnormal curvature of the spine in children?
Guo Xin: The back view of the spine in normal people is straight from the midpoint of the occipital bone (extraoccipital bulge) to the midline of the sacral bone. If a certain segment of the spine of the child and adolescent deviates from the midline of the body, causing the spine to protrude laterally in an arc or "S" shape, and the X-ray confirms that the Cobb angle (on the X-ray of the whole spine, by selecting the most inclined vertebral body at both ends of the bent side, that is, the upper and lower vertebral bodies, along its upper and lower terminal plates to make parallel lines, the angle formed by these two lines) is greater than 10°, it is defined as scoliosis in children and adolescents.
08
What age are children most likely to develop scoliosis?
Guo Xin: Scoliosis tends to occur in adolescents between the ages of 10 and 16, and the puberty period progresses rapidly, with a higher incidence in women than in men, and the degree of scoliosis is heavier than that in men.
Children at this age, height development is basically close to the end, mainly spinal growth, and physical exercise is relatively lacking, the muscle strength on both sides of the normal physiological bending of the fixed spine is insufficient, coupled with the incorrect sitting posture and standing posture, it is easy to cause scoliosis.
09
What bad habits can cause scoliosis?
Guo Xin: Bad habits that are easy to trigger scoliosis can be divided into three categories:
1. Wrong posture habits: Long-term incorrect standing, walking, sitting, writing posture makes the spine not get a good rest, easy to cause muscle fatigue damage in the lower back, and the anti-fatigue ability of the spine declines, resulting in students being unable to maintain correct reading and writing posture for a long time, forming a vicious circle. Prolonged unilateral weight bearing and long-term habit of carrying a one-sided shoulder bag also increase the risk of scoliosis.
2. Lack of physical exercise: abnormal curvature of the spine is directly related to the level of exercise in an individual's daily life. The more time spent physically active, the lower the risk of abnormal curvature of the spine.
3. Partial diet: children and adolescents need to consume a large amount of calcium to promote bone development, if anorexia, partial food, or other reasons lead to insufficient calcium intake, or diet and sunshine cause vitamin D deficiency, can increase the risk of abnormal curvature of the spine.
10
What can parents do to detect scoliosis in their children as early as possible?
Guo Xin: The Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Abnormal Spinal Curvature in Children and Adolescents include the screening program for abnormal spinal curvature into the physical examination of each school year or new students. For adolescent parents, they can also often test themselves, using the "four horizontal and one vertical" method to see if the child's back is symmetrical.
"Four horizontal" is to see whether the two shoulders are equal height, whether the lower angle of the two shoulder blades is equal height, whether the two lumbar sockets are symmetrical, and whether the height of the iliac crests on both sides of the pelvis is consistent; "one vertical" is to see whether the child's spinous line is tilted or deviated from the midline.
Image from the Disease Control Bureau of the National Health Commission
Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Abnormal Curvature in Children and Adolescents
In addition to this appearance observation, it can also be found by the forward flexion test. Your child has his heels together, his legs straight, his torso bent 90 degrees forward, his hands folded, and his upper limbs perpendicular to the ground. If there is a deformation of the spine, there will be a high asymmetry between the two sides, which is medically called "razorback deformity", which is an important test.
Through low-cost physical examination, you can make a preliminary judgment on your own, but the final diagnosis still needs to be judged by a doctor. Parents must pay attention to the health of their children's spine, and regular self-examination, strict inspection, and long-term observation.
(This article is based on live broadcast content)
Doctor's business card
Guo Xin is the director of the School Health Institute of the Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the deputy director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Health and the master tutor of the School of Public Health of Capital Medical University, the vice chairman of the School Health Standards Committee of the National Health Standards Committee, the member of the National Expert Group on the Prevention and Treatment of Myopia in Children and Adolescents of the National Health Commission, and the member of the National School AIDS Prevention Education Expert Group of the Ministry of Education. The first members of the National Health Science Popularization Expert Database.
Undertake a number of scientific research work such as major special projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, special scientific research projects in the health industry, and development of national health standards, and compile a number of national standards and local standards as the first drafter. His main research areas are the monitoring and intervention of common diseases such as myopia, obesity, curvature of the spine, and injury in children and adolescents, and the prevention and control management of infectious diseases in schools.
Introduction to "Health Everyone Talks"
In order to implement the "Opinions of the State Council on the Implementation of Healthy China Action", promote the popularization of health knowledge, give full play to the role of experts in technical support, and provide scientific health science knowledge for the people, at the beginning of 2020, the Healthy China Action Promotion Office announced the first list of members of the national health science popularization expert database to the public. In order to mobilize experts to actively participate in science popularization activities and form a series of brands, the Expert Database Management Office will carry out the "Healthy Everyone Talk - National Health Science Popularization Expert Series Live Broadcast Activities", which will be implemented by the New Media Platform for Healthy China Government Affairs, and strive to aggregate national expert resources, create high-quality science popularization columns, and promote them through the new media matrix of Healthy China Government Affairs to expand the dissemination of authoritative science popularization content.
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Planner: Yu Yunxi Fang Tong
Text: Fan Hongyan
Editor: Fan Hongyan