DAVAO CITY (PIA) -- Parents, adult family members and other stakeholders are key players and role models in promoting a healthy lifestyle to combat obesity among children.

Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) gastroenterology and nutrition consultant Dr. Perlina Quitain raised this call amidst the alarming increase in obesity cases among school children in the country, ages 5 to 10 years old, and adolescents ages 10 to 19 years old, from four percent in previous years to 13% in recent years.

She added that an unhealthy lifestyle primarily contributed to obesity among children and adolescents.

The following are also factors that lead to obesity: lack of exercise, high intake of sweetened drinks rather than water, inadequate sleep, and consumption of junk foods and other empty-calorie foods like baked goods and ice cream.

Also, she mentioned the use of gadgets among the young population as a factor in obesity, noting that gadgets limit children from moving around.

Dr. Quitain noted that obese children and adolescents are at high risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and even fatty liver.

She pointed out that obesity among children and adolescents is preventable by promoting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, especially by having parents and adult family members act as good examples.

She said, “We (parents, adult family members) should be role models for these children, for these kids, so we should be role models in terms of doing exercises at least one hour in a day, drinking water instead of sweetened beverages, we should get enough sleep… We should avoid junk food and instead focus on nutritious and healthy.”

Participation of the entire family in activities that promote healthy lifestyles, like exercising, is also highly encouraged.

eating habits among the youth and DepEd employees by making available healthy, nutritious, and affordable menu choices, and setting food standards.

Since then, it has been implemented in all public elementary and secondary schools, learning centers, and DepEd offices across the country. Although not mandated, private educational institutions are highly encouraged to adopt or implement the same policy.

One of the mechanisms of the policy is that all school canteens are mandated to strictly adhere to the set of food standards - which foods and beverages are allowed to be served to the children and which are not, and ensuring that the foods and beverages served fulfilled the requirements of a “healthy diet.”

These include promoting local production of healthy foods, ensuring accessibility and affordability of healthy food to all families, building community and home gardens, providing walkable spaces for the community, enacting local legislation supporting DepEd policy, promoting healthy eating among the constituents using “Pinggang Pinoy,” and organizing regular physical activities for all age groups. (ASO/PIA-XI/Thumbnail photo from UNICEF Philippines)