Health
professionals have described it as a national epidemic.
About nine million kids are affected. That amounts to 15 percent of
American children, aged 6 to 11 years, who are considerably overweight.
This number has actually tripled in the past 30 years. And the rates
for obesity are actually greater for minority children. Over 25 percent
of Black and Hispanic kids are overweight.
Not only is
the
pediatric population as a whole getting
fatter, but the fatter children are also getting more obese, with
super-obesity having increased almost 100 percent over the past two
decades. Obese children are at high risk of becoming obese adults, and
the more obese the child becomes, the greater the risk of obesity when
they reach adulthood.
After some
time
the overweight child may experience elevated
blood lipids, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and other
problems. The risk of an elevated blood cholesterol level is greatest
among children with body weights above the 90th percentile.
Almost 7
million
American children and teenagers are believed
to have high cholesterol levels. Results from the Bogalusa and
Muscatine studies indicate that children with elevated LDL cholesterol
levels are at high risk of becoming adults with elevated LDL
cholesterol levels.
Overweight
kids
are on a fast track to cardiovascular disease
and diabetes, diseases that we usually associate with middle-aged
adults. Pediatricians are alarmed at the rapid rise in the incidence of
type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents. Recent reports reveal that
up to 40 percent of children with newly diagnosed diabetes have type 2
diabetes, the type closely associated with obesity. In addition to
physical health problems, the overweight child also experiences
emotional and social problems.
What are
the
reasons for the increased obesity we see in
children today? Lifestyle factors are surely to blame. Many young
people today follow a very sedentary lifestyle. Leisure time is so
often spent watching television and DVD movies, playing computer games,
surfing the web, or chatting on the internet, rather than outdoor play
and activities. The government wants both children and adults across
the nation to add to their lifestyle the habit of walking every day in
an effort to curtail the obesity epidemic.
We have
observed
that the eating habits of children have
substantially changed over the past two decades. Children are obtaining
a greater proportion of their calories from fast foods and snacks that
are typically high in fat, salt and sugar. These foods include ice
cream, soda pop, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pizza, french fries,
shakes, chips, and candy bars, rather than fiber-rich foods such as
fruits and vegetables.
Furthermore,
portion sizes have increased quite dramatically
leading children to consume more food. Over the past two decades, the
average portion sizes of food has increased by 50 to 135 calories,
while the average beverage serving increased from 8 to 20 ounces. As
the portion sizes increase so do the waistlines of our children.
Another
factor
that impinges upon the nutritional quality of a
child's diet is the fact that many American families don't eat meals
together very often. Research shows that when children eat meals with
their parents they eat a more nutritious diet. The nutritional quality
of a child's diet is positively influenced not only by having a
pleasant family atmosphere at mealtime, but also by having a good
parental role model as far as food preferences are concerned.
Children
who eat
by themselves tend to eat foods high in fat,
sugar and salt. But poor nutrition is not the only downside of allowing
children to fend for themselves. Regular family meals also provide
order, discipline and emotional security for a child. Psychologists
have found that positive child-parent interactions improve a child's
development and their cognitive ability.
It is
really
important that changes be made to help stem the
national epidemic. Firstly, children should be encouraged to engage in
a greater amount of physical activity including walking, cycling, and
other outdoor activities. Body weight could be better managed if each
child wore a pedometer and walked about 2,000 steps every day. School
lunch programs need to provide more low-fat and low-calorie choices.
Proper meal patterns should be established for the entire family with
parents role-modeling good eating habits. Children should be encouraged
to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, and less fast-food and
processed food that is high in fat, calories, sugar and salt.
Andrews
University
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