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A worldwide study of children ages 5 to 19 over three decades found that New Zealand children are gaining more weight than those in many other countries.
A large study comparing 65 million school-age children in 200 countries and territories has singled out New Zealand children among the most unhealthy in the world.
The study, led by Imperial College London and published in The lancet On Friday, he analyzed data tracking trends in height, weight and BMI of children ages 5 to 19 between 1985 and 2019.
The results suggest that children living in the Pacific Islands had the highest BMI in the world in 2019, and New Zealand children are not far behind.
However, one kiwi expert says this does not take into account the growing ethnic diversity of New Zealand’s child population and how that has changed over three decades, saying that “one size does not fit all.”
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The paper, which analyzes the physical growth trends of children and adolescents from more than 2,000 studies, found large variations in height and BMI among school-age children.
This included unhealthy weight gain, but also “faltering growth” in many countries, mainly due to a lack of proper and healthy nutrition.
Unhealthy growth trends, with too little height gain and / or excess weight gain, were seen in several countries, including New Zealand, the United States, and Malaysia.
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Elaine Rush, professor of nutrition at AUT University, said that body size and growth trajectories are “imperfect measures of nutritional quality” for indigenous and multi-ethnic groups.
The most unhealthy changes – gaining too little height or too much weight for their height compared to children in other countries (or both) – occurred in many countries, including boys and girls in New Zealand and children in New Zealand. some nations of the Pacific islands.
Previous research has found that New Zealand children are among the most obese in the OECD, ranking second only to the US.
One of the New Zealand authors, Professor Jim Mann, director of the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Center, said this study shows that the problem of obesity, a “silent killer pandemic”, is increasing in New Zealand.
Mann and other authors are calling for a national nutrition survey to be conducted.
“New Zealand hasn’t had a survey since 2002, so we don’t really know what New Zealanders are consuming.”
Emeritus Professor of Nutrition at Auckland University of Technology Elaine Rush said New Zealand has seen an “unacceptably high and increasing prevalence” of excess body weight and rapid growth in children in recent years.
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Height, weight and BMI typically increase with age in school-age children, Rush said.
This was associated with poverty, food insecurity and is highest in Maori and Pacific children, who live disproportionately in disadvantaged areas.
Rush said the study did not evaluate measures of health, ethnic differences in shape and size, socioeconomic status or food security.
When compared at the same age, Pacific and Maori children weigh more than European and Asian children for the same body mass index, Rush said.
However, Maori and Pacific children have less fat and more muscle than European and Asian children, they are taller and more mature earlier than European children. At 19 there is little difference in height, he said.
“Body size and growth trajectories are imperfect measures of nutritional quality and lifetime health benefits and risks for indigenous, multi-ethnic and migratory populations,” he said.
