Right with the lie? D.Kepenis: children gained 10 kilograms per year in quarantine

May 13 at the Seimas In government time D. Kepenis criticized the Ministries of Education, Science and Sports and Health that kept and continue to keep children “closed” at home for so long and thus they get “pimples”.

“Now you have them locked up as pimps at home and you’re getting fat, so you go out, the Scandinavians move better, they exercise, they study, we … <...> the children have already gained 10 kilograms a year. What will happen next? ”The politician asked.

15 minutes When asked by D. Kepenis what statistics the politician uses when talking about changes in children’s weight, he said he heard this information when communicating with families.

And the exact statistics encouraged journalists to take an interest.

“You wonder if someone is recording those statistics. I am telling you what I have talked about with people, with a family, a second, a third.

I have been told that no one moves the children, we do not know what exercises to give. <...> What are these health educators doing in schools? And for me, one, the other says, here are 5 gains, here are 10 gains, I know. ” 15 minutes commented D. Kepenis.

15 minutes decided to verify these statements by D. Kepenis. Did children really gain 10 kilograms during quarantine?

Weight was affected by quarantine

According to a study carried out by researchers from Vilnius University (VU) “Distance education of children during the COVID-19 pandemic: threats and opportunities from an ecosystem perspectiveThe quarantine has affected overweight and obesity in children.

Before the pandemic, in the 2018-2019 school year, according to the Institute of Hygiene, there were 6.47% of obese children between 7 and 17 years old.

However, during the first quarantine, in the spring of 2020, it increased to 6.8 percent, and in the fall of the same year, to 8.8 percent, according to the analysis by VU researchers.

“The increase was two percent, when it is such a small percentage, that’s a lot.” 15 minutes The results of the research were commented on by one of the project implementers, Vaidotas Urbonas, a professor at the Institute of Clinical Medicine of the VU School of Medicine and a pediatric gastroenterologist.

According to him, the number of obese children continues to rise and the number of overweight people has also increased during the quarantine.

Of those surveyed, 16.5 percent had it. kids.

One in four children in the study had co-obese children or was overweight.

The study also revealed that up to 28% of 11-14 year olds are overweight, up from 15.8% in 2018.

“Some of those overweight people may go back to normal, but some will join the obese, there will be even more.” The problem is a funeral bomb for the future, ”said V. Urbonas.

The problem is the funeral bomb of the future.

You can find the full study – here.

Kilogram calls don’t count

V. Urbonas illustrated the current situation with an example from daily work.

“My mother brought a 10 to 12-year-old boy because his belly was enlarged, his mother was scared, maybe there is a tumor growing in her belly, and there she sees that there is no tumor, only a layer of fat in that one.” belly.

Ask how much he has gained, say 7-8 kilograms in a couple of months. When a child weighs 25, 8 percent is much more than an adult who gains about 20 kilograms, “said the doctor.

However, speaking of the general trend, the teacher urged not to discard specific numbers of who gained how many kilograms, but to follow the categories of overweight and obesity, because a child is unequal to a child, some a few kilograms can be a lot. , the other to say nothing.

“If a child is one year old, 5 kilograms means that the child has gained 50 percent. For an eighteen-year-old, who is two meters tall and weighs 110 to 120 kilograms, gaining 5 kilograms is no laughing matter. Absolute numbers are not suitable for children because they are so different.

For example, the body mass index (BMI) 16 for an adult is exhausted and the BMI 16 for a child between 4 and 5 years old is obese ”, explained V. Urbonas.

Ask how much he has gained, say 7-8 kilograms in a couple of months. When a child weighs 25, that percentage of 8 kilograms is a lot.

He noted that the study was conducted with the target group, not all Lithuanian children, so the results should be assessed with possible error.

However, the fact that obesity has risen during the quarantine due to lack of exercise and an unbalanced diet, he said, can be said unequivocally.

Exclusively quarantine only

The Institute of Hygiene noted that in Lithuania there is a general trend that the number of obese or overweight children is increasing, but this should not be related only to quarantine.

“The rise in obesity and overweight among students has been observed since the 2016-2017 school year, when the creation of the Child Health Monitoring Information System began to collect and analyze data on the health of students across the country.

However, this in no way indicates that it relied solely on quarantine. This requires a completely different set of studies. ” 15 minutes the answer was given by the Institute of Hygiene.

The institute’s specialists did not conduct a separate study to show whether and to what extent quarantine had an effect on children’s weight.

However, it provided an assessment of the students’ BMI with the most recent data for the 2020-2021 school year, which may still change.

The Institute of Hygiene evaluates the health data of all Lithuanian children, which is why they differ greatly from the results of the research conducted by the VU researchers discussed above.

15 minutes According to D. Kepenis, the statement that the children gained 10 kilograms a year in quarantine is partly consistent with the reality demonstrated by official sources.

According to a study by VU researchers, the proportion of overweight or obese children increased during their forties, but it did not determine how many kilograms the average child gained.

There could have been such isolated cases, as mentioned by D. Kepenis, that the children gained 10 kg each, but there is no reason to absolutely claim that such an increase in the weight of the children could be the average for the whole of Lithuania. Supporting studies have not been conducted.

Also, according to pediatric gastroenterologist V. Urbon, the use of exact numbers of weight gain in one or the other child is not appropriate due to differences between children.

According to him, attention should be paid to the definitions of obesity and overweight.