Target UAE children at young age to avoid obesity, research says

Before they reach seven or eight years old, Emirati children have a Body Mass Index that is less than the worldwide average for children of the same age, after that their BMI rises steadily.

DUBAI // Children need to be targeted when they are seven to eight years of age to effectively control obesity, research by the UAE University suggests.
Dr Abdishakur Abdulle, associate director of the university's Public Health Research Centre, said this was the crucial age to encourage children to follow a healthy lifestyle.
"Children who are obese tend to be obese adults," he said. "This is the best age to intervene as we have found that after this point, the obese children tend to stay so."
The centre's study also found that Emirati children were suffering higher-than-average levels of obesity.
It found that before they reached seven or eight, Emirati children had a Body Mass Index that was less than the worldwide average for children of the same age.
But after they reached the age of seven, the picture changed.
For females, from that point on, their BMI rose steadily, peaking at the age of 19.
For males, the picture was slightly more complex in that it rose, with the odd dips at the age of nine and 18, before a huge rise up until their 19th birthday.
These statistics suggested that obesity needed to be tackled as early as possible.
Dr Abdulle believed high blood pressure was also on the rise among children and adolescents. He said the findings suggested that more should be done to address obesity. "Healthy eating and adequate physical activity may help. Obesity needs to be tackled even in a one-year old child," he said.
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This article was corrected to state that the research was carried out by UAE university, not New York University Abu Dhabi.