Obesity In Children

"Obesity in Children is A New Problem.
It Has Never Existed Before."

As I have written in many parts of this website, obesity is an epidemic. Americans are dying of weight related conditions more than any other condition. The next highest cause of American deaths are cancer and then diabetes.

This is an alarming fact since it can be controlled by what we eat and by what we do with our bodies.

It is not like bubonic plague where an unknown virus or germ is sweeping across the country and causing illness and death.

But there is no more travesty than when obesity in children, childhood obesity, obesity in young children and child diabetes are now at their highest levels. Obesity in children is now an official threat to the health of children.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 percent of children (over 9 million) 6-19 years old are overweight or obese -- a number of obesity in children that has tripled since 1980. In addition to the 16 percent of children and teens ages 6 to 19 who were overweight in 1999-2002, another 15 percent were considered at risk of becoming overweight.¹

Today, about one in three children and adolescents is overweight (with a body-mass index, or BMI, in the 85th to 95th percentile for age and sex) or obese (BMI above the 95th percentile), and the proportion approaches one in two in certain minority groups.²

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over the past three decades the obesity in children has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2-5 years and adolescents aged 12-19 years, and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11 years.³

Obesity in children in their preschool years are more likely to be obese in adolescence and adulthood⁴ and to develop diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, asthma, and sleep apnea⁵. One of the "Healthy People 2010" objectives (19-3) is to reduce to 5% the proportion of children and adolescents who are obese.⁶

What To Do About It

The first thing to do about obesity in children is to read and educate yourself as the adult. Everything on this site applies to children.

The only difference is that if the adults and parents do not follow it the children will not.

When I am asked how to help children lose weight or obesity in a certain child, I first ask for the eating and sleep diaries of the parents. When I do it always shows that the parents are eating foods they don’t want the kids to eat.

I have to get the parents to change their habits and health. It is the only way I have been able to change the eating habits of the children. However, when the parents change their eating and start to get healthier the children just follow suit.

Having said this, there is also good communication and explaining food to them.

Another successful approach is to allow the children to participate in the preparation of foods. They tend to be willing to eat food they have prepared.

Cutting vegetables and raw foods in shapes that are attractive is also helpful in keeping children interested in the food. Often times, the visual appeal is the greater pull. This is the case why children’s foods are decorated the way they are.

Obesity In Children
References

1. "Obesity and Overweight for Professionals: Childhood: Data: Low-Income, Preschool-Aged Children | DNPAO | CDC." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2010. <http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/lowincome.html>.
   
2. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, McDowell MA, Tabak CJ, Flegal KM. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004. JAMA 2006;295:1549-1555.
   
3. Obesity, Op Cit
   
4. Serdula MK, Ivery D, Coates RJ, Freedman DS, Williamson DF, Byers T. Do obese children become obese adults? A review of the literature. Prev Med 1993;22:167--77.
   
5. American Academy of Pediatrics. Policy statement: prevention of pediatric overweight and obesity. Pediatrics 2003;112:424--30.
   
6. US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy people 2010: objectives for improving health (part B: focus areas 15--28). 2nd ed.

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