Childhood obesity: Is it really a concern?
Many people think that it is normal for children to pack on weight as they age. After all, they will stretch out as they grow taller!
This could not be further from the truth. Children growing up in the United States today are more likely to suffer lifetime harm from the way they eat than harm from tobacco, drugs and alcohol combined. Over the past 30 years, the rate of obesity in the United States has more than doubled for preschoolers and adolescents, and it has more than tripled for children ages 6 to 11.
A spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association recently stated; "Due to obesity and the related health problems, this is the first generation of children who might not outlive their parents. In children as young as 6 years old, we are seeing what were formerly thought of as adult diseases: coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, liver disease, joint damage, trouble sleeping and depression."
The reasons for a child's obesity are complex. However, the most common factors combine too much screen time - including television, computers and video games - with too much junk food. In children as young as 3, the amount of weekly television viewing is significantly related to their caloric intake as well as their requests and parent purchases of specific foods they have seen advertised on television.
An interesting correlation is that during the same period in which childhood obesity has increased so dramatically, there has also been an explosion in media targeted to children. The majority of ads targeted to children are for food: primarily candy (32 percent), cereal (31 percent) and fast food (9 percent).
Fast food outlets alone spend $3 billion in television ads targeted to children. The New York Times has reported that this is no surprise since multiple studies have demonstrated that from a very young age, children influence the parents' consumer behavior.
Does this really affect children? The United States Department of Agriculture research results concluded that 70 percent of 6- to 8-year-olds believed that fast foods were more nutritious than home-cooked foods.
Alyson Erwin is a health consultant with the Resource Connection For Kids. Please send your parenting questions to 302 Manatee Ave. East, Bradenton, FL 34208. Information on the organization's services may be obtained by calling 745-5949 or accessing the Web at
www.rc4k.org. This column alternates with one written by the Family Partnership Center, which advises parents on raising kids older than 5.
FAMILY MATTERS: Raising Kids
Alyson Erwin
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