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Awareness
key to fighting childhood obesity
May 15, 03
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Imagine
a culture that wanted to fatten its kids.
It'd be a simple task. Get kids to eat
more and more calorie-packed foods. Then,
give them entertaining things to do that
keep them in their seats.
Sadly for us, it’s a picture we
don’t have to imagine.
The rise in obesity among children has
been widely documented:
• Three times the percentage of
children in the U.S. are overweight or
obese compared to just 25 years ago.
Fourteen percent of teens are overweight,
according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
• Among some population groups,
adolescents account for as many as half
of the new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes
— the variety caused by excess
weight, formerly considered an affliction
of adults. The prospect of teens with
coronary artery disease caused by obesity
is just around the corner, medical
authorities say.
Recognizing that obese children are more
likely to become obese adults, more
health authorities are calling attention
to the problem.
Surgeon General Richard Carmona tells
audiences around the country that the
future health implications of the
childhood obesity epidemic could threaten
our national security.
The American Heart Association recently
published new guidelines saying that
efforts to head off heart disease and
stroke need to begin in childhood.
"There is now quite a large body of
evidence documenting pathologic and
physiologic changes when hypertension,
high cholesterol and diabetes are present
in childhood," said Dr. Rae-Ellen
Kavey, chair of cardiology at Children's
Memorial Hospital at Northwestern
University in Chicago and lead author of
the paper. "Because the process of
heart disease begins then, prevention
should hold the most promise when it is
initiated in children."
How can you protect your kids?
For starters:
• Turn off the TV. Consider getting
rid of the extra cable stations or the
dish.
• Limit access to video games and
computer time, unless it’s for doing
research for homework.
• Model good eating habits for your
children. Parents should be role models
for lifelong commitment to physical
activity, too. Plan family vacations that
emphasize activities such as hiking,
swimming, and canoeing instead of
sedentary activities.
• Include kids in food shopping,
meal planning, meal prep, and clean up.
Make your home an extension of the
classroom, where good eating habits are
supported by health-promoting foods and a
minimum of junk.
• Eat meals together as often as
possible. Pledge to spend more time in
the kitchen preparing wholesome foods
from scratch, eat out less often and buy
fewer processed foods.
Also, be mindful of societal and economic
forces that influence our lives and often
frustrate individuals' attempts to manage
their weight.
Researchers writing in the British
medical journal The Lancet last August,
and others, describe a "toxic
environment" for people trying to
control their weight:
• Parents in two-income families
often find it difficult to find the time
to shop for and cook healthful meals, or
to supervise playing children.
• The design of many neighborhoods
discourages walking and bicycling.
• The health insurance industry
reimburses poorly for treatment of
childhood obesity.
• Physical education gets short
shrift in schools to make more time for
classroom instruction aimed at bettering
schools' performance scores.
• Schools sanction vending machines
dispensing soft drinks and other
sweetened beverages in return for a
portion of the revenue.
• The food industry spends more than
$10 billion a year on advertising and
marketing efforts targeting kids to
encourage them to eat more junk food.
• Huge financial contributions to
politicians give the food industry a
substantial voice in decision-making
concerning government-sponsored nutrition
advice, school-meal choices and
food-labeling regulations.
In many ways, our culture conspires
against us as we try to live healthful
lives. Key to helping yourself and your
family is the awareness that these
pressures exist.
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