Go outside and play! - obese children

Better Nutrition, Sept, 2001 by Liz Brown

Everyone mother has said that at one time or another, and it turns out she had a reason.

More kids today than ever before are overweight or obese.

In the U.S. the numbers of obese children have doubled since 1980. So why are kids today more likely than their parents or grandparents to tip the scales? According to Diane Stadler, R.D., an assistant professor at the Clinical Research Center at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Ore., there are several reasons.

One obvious scapegoat is television. Most kids spend lots of time in front of the tube (or computer screens and video games). This sedentary activity means that kids burn less calories than if they were out playing soccer or walking the dog. Secondly, kids are bombarded with TV commercials for unhealthy foods, which encourages them to eat more calorie-dense, high-fat and high-sugar foods that contribute to weight gain.

Another reason that kids get less exercise than previous generations did is that they (and we, as a convenience-based society) walk less to get from Point A to B than in the past. We drive even short distances, perhaps to save time or due to a lack of sidewalks, or because there's no safe route to our destinations. Sometimes we're just lazy.

Speaking of destinations, restaurants are often the places families steer the car these days when stomachs grumble. We eat out more and expect larger portion sizes today, Stadler says. When we see the larger portions, we (including the kids) consume them in their entirety. The convenience foods we grab on the run have also boosted their portion sizes and are often calorie-dense and lacking in nutrients. Instead of water and milk, kids drink more sodas and other sugary drinks than in the past -- no thanks to lucrative school contracts with soft drink vendors. Today, the average cola size is 20 oz. as opposed to the old 8 oz. bottle or 12 oz. can.

Then there's the genetic component. It's unclear exactly how much one's genes affect a child's odds of ending up overweight or obese, but researchers agree that body mass and composition are influenced somewhat by genetic factors. However, whether or not childhood obesity can truly be inherited still remains a mystery. This is also because it is difficult to separate the variables of lifestyle and genes within a family in order to study causes of obesity, since adults' habits (diet, physical activity level, etc.) tend to affect their children in the same way.

Ultimately, childhood obesity appears to involve factors of both nature and nurture.

Today, children are receiving different signals about obesity. One set of messages stems from the "gangs-ta rappa" school, with larger-than-life role models like Notorious BIG, Fat Joe, and the late Big Punisher (formerly Big Moon Dog). Born in 1971, Big Punisher is said to have quite literally eaten himself to death, doubling his weight in just four years, leading to a heart attack in 2000. Lyrics of the 1960s and 1970s may have celebrated free love and drugs, but today's lyrics boast about "living large"--money, women, cars and excess of various kinds. Fat Joe's "Livin' Fat" album says:

   "I'm livin' Fat y'all, I'm livin' Fat I'm livin' Fat fall, I'm livin' Fat
   Hey yo I'm livin Fat"

Now while "fat" doesn't only mean "obese," one of the messages, or images, coming through is that being overweight, and wearing baggy "fat" clothes, is "cool," particularly for boys.

Finding jeans to fit isn't the only problem that overweight and obese kids encounter. Heavy kids are often teased and may develop a poor self-image and become reclusive, resulting in less physical and social activity. In addition to the emotional impact, being an obese child increases the odds of serious health problems down the road.

What makes matters worse is that almost eight percent of female students have taken laxatives or have vomited to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight. The same percentage of female students have taken over-the-counter diet pills for the same reasons.

Obese children are at increased risk of becoming obese adults, for one. While one study found that obese children under three years of age without obese parents have a low risk of obesity in adulthood, obesity in older children was an important predictor of adult obesity among the study subjects, whether or not the parents were overweight. Researchers also concluded that parental obesity more than doubles adult obesity risk among children under ten years old.

As if that weren't alarming enough, childhood obesity is a strong risk factor for early onset of type-two diabetes. (So much for the disease's common name, "adult-onset diabetes.") Heart disease is another major problem commonly associated with adults that is now considered a threat at a younger age, especially to children who are too heavy.

"It's important to keep in mind that the development of cardiovascular disease begins in the teenage years," says Dr. Scott Calig, a pediatrician at West Hills Medical Center and an assistant clinical professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "By that time, studies have shown that arterial plaque formation is well under way." High blood pressure and respiratory infections are other problems associated with childhood obesity.