Comparing risk factors in a group of obese children and group of athlets

Abstract

Obesity is an increasing problem that more and more often affects children, thus not only the adult population. The aim of this thesis is to compare various elements and life habits of obese children with elements and habits of children practising athletics. These processes are physical activity, healthstate, eating habits, physical condition, breast-feeding period duration and the BMI of the children's parents. We have come upon an agreement with other authors that while comparing the BMI results of the parents, the two sets differed significantly. It was clearly indicated that obese children also have overweight or obese parents. Therefore it can be said that obesity is usually a problem of the whole actual family and its life-style. Regarding birth-weight, breast-feeding period duration, participation in P.E. class or a time spent watching TV or playing a computer, no major differences were noted. However, slight differences in favour to the athletes were seen in their good eating habits, their body-posture and their interest in sports in general. Here, the intensity with which active children practise sports and the time they devote to it are much higher and bigger than the energy and time spent on sports by obese children.

Keywords

• obesity in children
• risk factors
• physical activities