Combatting Childhood Obesity Starts At Home

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Dr. Christine Fray, is urging parents to create healthier home environments to combat childhood obesity and promote lifelong wellness.

Speaking at a recent JIS Think Tank, Dr. Fray said that children are growing up in environments where dietary habits, limited physical activity and increased screen time are contributing to weight gain from an early age.

“Our children live in what is called an obesogenic environment, meaning that everything around them, the way they eat, the activities that they have, the things that they do, yield a higher probability of weight gain,” she pointed out.

Dr. Fray, who is President-elect of the Jamaica Association of Nutrition and Dietetics and Associate Professor and Programme Director, Dietetics and Nutrition, College of Health Sciences at the University of Technology, noted that unhealthy eating patterns often begin at home, where children are introduced to foods high in fat and sugar from an early age, shaping preferences before they enter the school system and making healthier choices more difficult as they grow older.

She noted that the school environment can further influence children’s eating habits, particularly where healthy food choices and preparation are not prioritised.

Other important contributory factors, Dr. Fray highlighted are insufficient physical activity and increased sedentary behaviour.

She noted that physical activity is no longer as embedded in Jamaican culture as it once was.

“Children are put before a screen, and that is another part of that obesogenic environment, so you have a child that is really set up for weight gain,” she said.

Dr. Fray stressed that the issue is not simply about a child’s appearance but the long-term health consequences associated with carrying excess body fat.

The nutritionist explained that children who develop obesity are at greater risk of developing chronic diseases, including diabetes and, later in life, conditions such as hypertension.

She is, therefore, calling for a coordinated national approach involving parents, schools and other systems across the country to promote healthier lifestyles among children.

“We really have to start at the home,” Dr. Fray emphasised.

“We have to make sure that when our messages go out there, we are speaking to parents, that we are speaking to schools, that we are speaking to systems within the country so that we have, as a whole, all of us moving towards a healthier Jamaica and we are starting from home”, she stated.