According to World Health Organization health statistics, 24.8 percent of 6-9 year old children in Turkey are obese, while 40 percent of children in sports schools in Istanbul are in the overweight-obese category. In addition, 70 percent of children quit sports by the age of 14. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Soyal said that the biggest reason for children to quit sports is family pressure, while Dietician Hande Nur Onur Öztürk stated that children can be directed to healthy nutrition with the price policy in school canteens.
According to published statistics, more than 1 million people in the world are obese, including 880 million adults and 159 children. While one in every 8 people will be obese in 2022; adult obesity has doubled and adolescent obesity has quadrupled. 37 million children under the age of 5 are overweight, 390 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 are overweight and 160 million are obese. Turkey ranked first in Europe in obesity, diabetes and inactivity. Istanbul Gelisim University Faculty of Sports Sciences, Head of Coaching Education Department Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Soyal and Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hande Nur Onur Öztürk explained the tricks to be considered to combat obesity.
“Provide basic movement training from the age of 3 to avoid inactivity”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Soyal said, “According to TurkStat data, boys in Turkey are seen to exercise 38 minutes a day, while girls are seen to do 12 minutes. After the age of 18, this figure drops to 12 minutes for boys and 5 minutes for girls. When we evaluate this, we see that sports culture and awareness is not very well established in our country. Especially from the age of 3, children should be given basic movement training. Then you can direct them to whichever branch they are professionally predisposed to. Recently, the awareness of directing children to sports has increased.”
“The first reason for children to quit sports is family pressure”
Commenting on the fact that 70 percent of children quit sports by the age of 14, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Soyal said the following:
“The first reason for this is family pressure. Incorrect training load and conveying the belief that academic success is more important is also an important factor. Unfortunately, families also expect sportive success from children during their play and learning period. This causes mental pressure and injury in children. Naturally, this can cause them to cool down from sports or the movement process.”
“Children are not distracted from academic success when we make them exercise”
“We need to invest in our youth for our future,” said Mehmet Soyal, ”The beginning of this investment is to make our children act in a lifelong sports mentality with exercise and sports. When we train and exercise, children do not move away from academic success. On the contrary; they can express themselves much more in academic success as well as being free from sociological, physiological and postural disorders. They can gain practical thinking skills. In this regard, we can already say that exercise and sports are of great importance.”
“One of the reasons why there are so many overweight people in Istanbul is traffic”
Making nutritional recommendations, Dr. Lecturer. Prof. Dr. Hande Nur Onur Öztürk said that one of the reasons why there are so many overweight people in Istanbul is that we spend a lot of time on the roads. No matter how much we correct our nutrition, the time allocated to us somehow goes in traffic. This causes us to sit and stay in the same position all the time. When we consider that children also go to school by car or shuttle bus, it is inevitable. That is why it is very important for your children to move. The second important thing is nutrition.”
“Price policies at school are important for healthy nutrition”
“If food is already given at school, it is given according to the instructions implemented by the ministry,” said Dr. Lecturer. Prof. Dr. Hande Nur Onur Öztürk said, “It is actually very important to reduce the prices in school canteens to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, especially in a way that is more accessible to children. It is very important to make a change in the price policy, especially in providing milk, fruits and vegetables to children. Traditional pot meals are the healthiest. We have a nutrition model we call the four-leaf clover. In this group, the nutrients that each individual should consume in a day are classified; milk group, meat group, whole grain group, fruit and vegetable group.”
