A new program in the Third City of England helps reduce childhood obesity

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, affecting the health and well-being of children and leading to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer later in life. The number of children suffering from obesity continues to increase worldwide, especially among children living in poverty.

Leeds, the third-largest city in England, has weathered the global trend and has recorded a significant decline in obesity, according to a recent study published in the newspaper Pediatric obesity Mary Rudolf, head of the Department of Population Health at the Azrieli School of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University. In addition, the largest decrease in obesity has occurred among the poorest and most disadvantaged children in the city.

Professor Rudolf has conducted research on measures of child growth in England from 2009 to 2017. She found that unlike the whole of England and comparable cities, the number of children in the UK has increased. Obese children in Leeds had decreased by 6.4%. "In our study, we used data collected at the national level, so it was very obvious that something different was going on in Leeds," she says.

Next week, Professor Rudolf will present the results of his study to the Forum on Diet and Health in the UK Parliament. This multi-stakeholder forum meets regularly and advises Parliament on ways to improve the health of the nation.

The decline in obesity coincided with a strategy put in place by the city in 2009 that aimed to combat the obesity epidemic by targeting families with pre-school children in neighborhoods. the poorest of Leeds. HENRY – Exercise Nutrition for the Health of the Younger – an intervention developed by Professor Rudolf and his colleagues for children under five. HENRY, which has been widely adopted in the UK over the past decade, offers a range of programs and trains health practitioners and communities to work innovatively to help parents provide their families with a better start. in life.

In Israel, where Professor Rudolf is currently based, one in five children is obese or overweight at the time of entry into the first year of study, increasing to one in three out of seven. problem, the Israeli Ministry of Health sent HENRY to Israel in 2014. A team of four professionals was sent to Oxford to initiate in the approach. She then trained nurses, dieticians and social workers working directly with the participating families. program, especially early childhood specialists. Training was also provided to parents participating in the program. HENRY has been translated into Hebrew and Arabic and has been tested in various disadvantaged cities, such as Safed, Kiryat Yam, Daliyat al-Karmel, Ussefiya, Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Ramle, Jerusalem, Yeruham and Dimona.

Known in Israel as Efshari bari mishpachti ("A healthy family is possible"), this program has been designed for families with children under three and is being evaluated by Professor Orna Baron-Epel, from Haifa University. The results show that group work with parents has been particularly effective in changing the lifestyle of the family. Plans are underway to extend the program to kupot holim (health service providers) in the country.

Professor Rudolf says that it remains to be seen if Israeli cities can be as effective as Leeds in tackling the problem of childhood obesity, but when society invests in early childhood, it gets the best returns to do it.

If we want to make a difference, we need to start at an early age, before the onset of obesity. This can reduce the impact of a poor lifestyle later on. "

Mary Rudolf, Head of Department of Population Health, Azrieli School of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University

Rudolf was born in London and worked in Leeds before settling in Israel in 2012.