Background: In addition to genetic predispositions and environmental factors, healthy lifestyle education is very important for children and adolescents. The purpose of this research was to estimate the number of overweight and obese children and adolescents from small towns and villages and to find out an association between health awareness in children and the risk of becoming overweight or obese.
Results: Overweight status was diagnosed in 9.0% and obesity in 5.1% of respondents. Excess body mass was statistically more frequently diagnosed in girls than in boys aged 14–18 years. Girls of this age group significantly more frequently chose wholemeal bread, smoked sausages, meat and poultry as products that are believed to keep them fit. Older children substantially more often indicated that stress, smoking cigarettes, consuming fatty meat, sweets, being obese, and a lack of physical activity are factors that damage health. Boys spent more time in front of a computer or TV than girls; in the older group of children, the phenomenon even intensified.
Conclusion: Awareness of healthy lifestyle behaviour is not sufficient to maintain optimal body mass. Knowledge about proper eating habits is better among girls than among boys, especially in the older age groups. However, in older groups, there was less physical activity due to spending more time in front of TV or the computer. High percentage of obese/overweight children and insufficient knowledge of nutrition may consequently result in increased risk of cardio-vascular diseases in adult population.
The Polish population’s awareness of healthy lifestyle behaviours and proper diet for children is still not sufficient. There still exists a common belief that an overweight child is “healthy and well nourished” and that it will “grow out of excess weight”. Unfortunately, an obese child will most likely grow into an obese adult and face serious consequences of his or her obesity.The serious risk factor associated with obesity is insulin resistance leading to diabetes and other disorders.
Of the meals and food products listed in the questionnaire, children aged 6–13 years most often chose sweets and vegetable salads as favourite food products; in both cases it was approximately 37.0% of respondents. The next most popular products were meat/fried pork and sandwiches (bread with butter and ham or cheese) with 32.0% and 10.0% of children choosing each product, respectively. Children aged 6–9 years, more often than children aged 10–13 years, pointed at soup as their favourite dish.
Boys aged 6–9 years chose fried pork and meat more often than girls of the same age. Girls aged 6–13 years more often indicated vegetable salads. As Poland has seen a large intake of the fried pork, in the questionnaire were questions concerning not only intake of meat but intake of the fried pork as well. From the nutritional point of view the fried pork is more caloric and contains more fat than other meat dishes.
Frequency of Eating Meals
The following meals were listed in the questionnaire: breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. Separatequestion also concerned eating between main meals. The study shows that approximately 38.0% of all children aged 6–18 years usually eat three meals a day, and 55.0% eat more than three mealsa day. Six percent consume only two meals a day. Overweight and obese children aged 6–9 years eat significantly fewer meals than children without excess body mass. A similar relation was observed in the 14–18 age group. Proportion of answers to the question “Do you eat breakfast before going to school?” was as follows: 73.0% stated “always or almost always”, 16.0% stated “sometimes”, and 10.0% stated “never or almost never”
Physical Activity
The physical activity of children and adolescents was assessed. Analysis shows that 37% of respondents think of themselves as very active, and 53% think of themselves as being moderately active. Answers to the question “Beside PE (physical education) classes, how often do you exercise?” were as follows: 36.7%everyday, 50.5% at least once a week and 12.8% more rarely than once a week. Boys aged 10–13 and 14–18 significantly more often than girlsin the same age groups were engaged in sports at least once a week. Respondents aged 10–13 were more often engaged in sports than 6–9 and 14–18 years old.
Way of Spending Leisure Time
The next questions in the questionnaire were about respondents’ways of spending free time. The analysis shows that 24.0% of children aged 6–9 years and 10–13 years spend most of their free time in front of TV and PC, 18.0% read books, and only 16.0% of children prefer outdoor physical activity. Girls aged 6–9 years and 10–13 years spent significantly more free time reading books and playing with toys or drawing than boys from the same age group. Boys preferred playing football and riding bikes.
Analysis of the questionnaire shows that children from small towns and villages spend on average 2 hours a day in front of TV and approximately 1.5 hours on the computer. Respondents from the 10–13 and 14–18 age groups spend a significantly longer time watching television than younger children. Additionally, the older children spend more time on the computer. In each of the age groups, boys spend a significantly longer time on the computer. It has not been noticed that overweight and obese children spend significantly more time in front of the computer or TV than those who are not overweight and obese.
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