Obesity in children hints at gender bias: boy to girl ratio 3:1

Doctors said a reason from this lopsided trend could be overfeeding of a male child.

Study of eating habits and nutrition among children in the region has established that in comparison to girls,boys are fed more due to gender bias.

According to findings of dietician B N Behera,of the 64 children who came with obesity related problems to his clinic,three-fourth were boys.

These children came from both urban and rural areas in Chandigarh and neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Behera said the numbers titled in favour of boys,suggesting that male children’s diet was high on calories and junk food.

Prof B R Thapa of the Department of Gastroentrology at PGI,on the other hand,said the region did have a skewed sense of feeding children,but “biological growth should also be taken into account”.

“Faulty eating habits can be a contributing factor. But it has been observed that males tend to be heavier while growing up,and females put on weight later in life,” Prof Thapa said.

Studies have also established that 92 per cent of obese children with body mass index (BMI) higher than 25 do not indulge in any physical activity.