Here is one of the many consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to a study published on Tuesday and carried out under the aegis of the French public health agency in Val-de-Marne, cases of obesity and overweight have increased sharply among the youngest since the start of the health crisis.
The authors of this study, who examined the data of nearly 50,000 children attending kindergarten, thus indicate that among four-year-old children, “overweight and obesity (…) increased significantly in 2020-2021, in comparison of the two previous school years”.
These figures come from health checks systematically carried out in the middle section, when the children are around four years old.
Although the scope of the study is limited by its geographical concentration, the breadth and completeness of this data allow reliable conclusions to be drawn at the level of this department.
Thus, the proportion of obese children almost doubled during the two years corresponding roughly to the start of the health crisis, going from 2.8% to 4.6% according to the study.
The rate of overweight children, a situation that covers broader criteria than obesity, has also increased, from 8.9% to 11.2%.
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Girls more affected than boys
For the authors of the study, the measures taken to fight against Covid-19, namely generalized confinement at first, then the systematic closing of schools at the slightest positive case, favored excessive weight gain among children. children.
The study, which also notes that girls are more affected than boys, is however unable to detail the precise mechanisms of this development.
"It would be interesting to know if it is rather the diet that has deteriorated - increased snacking, consumption of ultra-processed products - or the drastic reduction in activities", note the authors.
In the fall of 2021, a study conducted by the American health authorities on more than 400,000 young people, aged 2 to 19, concluded that the weight gain of the latter had, on average, been twice as fast since the start of the pandemic.
“The increase was greatest in people who were already obese before the pandemic, and in younger school-aged children,” the work concluded.