Tema-Ghana, Oct. 25, – Forcing children to eat beyond what their stomachs could contain could lead to obesity and its associated health issues, Dr. Marc Kwame Dzradosi, Head of Pharmaceutical Services at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) in Tema, has stated.
He explained that because a child’s stomach is small, it accepts and digests the quantity it can take, leaving the rest to form fat deposits in the body. He therefore cautioned parents and guardians against forcing children to eat larger portions of food than their stomach can take.
He noted: “Now we see children aged between four and five, but their weight is like that of a ten-year-old. We are also seeing children with heartburn since the stomachs reject the excess food, which then rushes upward; others are also having stomach problems.”
Dr. Dzradosi, who is also a Clinical Lecturer at the Central University and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), speaking on the topic “Obesity” at the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility,” a Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative.
The health advocacy platform aimed at promoting communication on health-related topics and setting the medium for the propagation of health information to influence personal health choices by improving health literacy.
The Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office seeks to use the platform to explore the parameters of the four approaches to health communication: informative, educating, persuasive, and prompting.
Dr. Dzradosi expressed concern that children as young as ten years old were having Type Two Diabetes due to obesity, stressing that when parents give their children high-calorie foods and also force them to overeat, they will become obese and grow into adults with obesity.
He noted that obesity was on the rise in Ghana, indicating that some of the effects of being obese included hypertension, stroke, diabetes, depression, mental illness, joint problems, cancers, and cardiovascular diseases, among others.
“The heart handles a certain weight of your body, so the more weight you gain, the more pressure you put on your heart,” he stressed.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager, noted that health issues are non-negotiable and appealed for concerted efforts to create a healthy lifestyle.
He stressed the need for collective responsibility towards fulfilling healthy living: “You must be the first person to protect your health; let us be conscious of issues that may endanger our lives and the people around us”.
Mr. Ameyibor explained that GNA-Tema Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility weekly health dialogue platform also serves as an effective communication channel for health professionals to educate the public on healthy practices and other general health challenges.
Mr. Ameyibor said it also seeks to create active two-way media advocacy channels for healthcare professionals to communicate promotional health information through which to disseminate public health issues and health education.
