Parents play top role in child obesity
By KEVIN CULLEN
kcullen@journalandcourier.com
For Ana Maria Romero, the face of childhood obesity is a 2-year-old she knows ... so overweight that people think he's 4.
"It's the stuff he eats at home -- pizza, hamburgers, no vegetables," she says. "He drinks only milk."
His parents, and others, "don't see it as a problem," says Romero, an Indianapolis Head Start worker. "They think it is normal for children to be like that."
She was among 160 professionals who attended the three-day Institute for Infant & Toddler Specialists of Indiana conference at Purdue University. It closed Friday.
Researchers and professionals met, networked and shared information.
Childhood obesity rates have doubled in 30 years. Obese children often become obese adults at higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and mental illness.
Kids need better nutrition and more exercise, said Valparaiso University nursing professor Amy Cory, one of the speakers. She is a pediatric nurse practitioner researching the prevention of early childhood obesity.
"We're seeing toddlers with Type 2 diabetes, which used to be called adult-onset diabetes," she said. " ... It's highly correlated to weight."
Parents must be aware of their influence. A pre-schooler with non-obese parents runs a 25 percent risk of becoming an obese adult, Cory said. If his parents are obese, the risk of him becoming obese is 60 percent.
Computer and TV "screen" time should be limited to less than two hours per day, she said, and families should promote physical activity.
"I see a lot of overweight children," said conference attendee Ivonne Gutierrez, a center assistant with Head Start in Indianapolis. "It affects their learning in a certain way. They have more difficulty. It could be that their minds are more into food than into school."
Childhood Obesity
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