Obesity in Childhoodthe Basics of Treatment
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Obesity in Childhood: How To Stop the Epidemic?/children/obesity-in-childhood-how-to-stop-the-epidemic/Richard Saint Cyr MDIt’s no secret that children all over the world are puttingon too much weight; in the US, an astonishing 1/3 ofchildren are overweight or obese. Even in China, theobesity rates f or children are dramatically rising. Beingoverweight as a child can lead to many diseases as anadult, including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, highblood pressure, and some cancers. Also, overweight kidshave lower self-esteem and higher risks f or depression.So what can parents, or society really do to stop thisepidemic? And how can f amily doctors and pediatricianshelp?The f irst step parents should take is to f ind out where your child f its on a Body Mass Index (BMI) chart. Your doctor should be doing this at the well-child exams, but you can easily f ind childhood BMI calculators online (such as this one) and f ind out yourself. A child above 85% is considered overweight, and above 95% is obese. Many parents are surprised at f inding their child is of f icially overweight or obese, which is why these objective BMI standards are important f or tracking, as well as assessing progress.There are quite a f ew weight loss approaches that most doctors can agree on; one major agreement is that diets almost never help, at any age. Any diet plan designed f or quick weight loss is almost guaranteed to long-term f ailure, and many people f requently end up even heavier than bef ore. The healthiest option is always slow and steady weight loss. One pound a week of weight loss f or many children, f rom very conscious changes in diet and exercise routines, is appropriate.Another major approach involves cutting back on TV time. The American Academy of Pediatrics just published a major policy statement stating that “the evidence linking excessive TV viewing and obesity is persuasive”. They specif ically recommend a ban on junk- and f ast-f ood advertising in all children’s TV programs, and they set specif ic limits of TV time f or age groups. They also detail multiple studies showing how having a TV in the bedroom is another independent risk f actor f or obesity, both as a child and later as adults. They also recommended that “pediatricians need to ask 2 questions about media use at every visit: 1. How much screen time is being spent per day? and 2. Is there a TV set or Internet connection in the child’s bedroom?”One approach I mentioned bef ore was to have a good breakf ast. Many studies have shown that eating a nutritious breakf ast is crucial f or a child’s physical growth and school perf ormance, and that breakf ast-skippers actually end up more overweight, both in childhood and later as adults.Of course, the main treatments f or obesity are the obvious: more exercise and eating proper f oods in moderate amounts. It’s important that there be a f amily ef f ort to help your overweight child lose weight. Parents also need to lead by example; it’s much harder f or a child to lose weight if their parents are also overweight and don’t exercise. As f or diet recommendations, the most obvious choices to eliminate are sodas and f ruit drinks. Sodas truly have almost no redeeming value, especially f or children. Any child drinking a daily soda is adding extra pounds of f at each year, and they are also increasing their risk f or diabetes as well as teeth problems. Most f ruit juices are also quite poor substitutes f or natural f ruits and should be used at a minimum. For exercise, most kids should be getting 60 minutes a day, but this can be broken up into multiple sessions. The key is f inding something they love to do. And don’t f orget that any exercise is better than nothing!Another ef f ort involves reviewing the f oods at school. I recently heard the great news that milk producers in America this f all are all ref ormulating their f lavoredmilk to have 1/3 less sugars and calories. Many (but not all) nutritionists consider this a positive step, as schools that totally eliminated f lavored milk encountered a large drop in milk drinking, which raises the risk of kids not getting enough nutrients such as calcium. What does your school do?Parents who want to learn more about childhood obesity and how to f ight it can f ind excellent resources at the website , which is of f icially run by the American Academy of Pediatrics. And atf , the American Academy of Family Medicine also of f ers many tips on weight loss f or all ages.(This article was originally printed in Beijing Kids magazine, where I am a contributing editor. You can click here to read the rest of my BeijingKids “The Doc Is In” columns.)。
