1 in 20 (20 yrs ago), 1 in 10 (10 years ago), 1 in 5 (now)

[SoCalDem]

It's not baby fat: Among 4-year-olds, nearly 1 in 5 is obese

By Madison Park
CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/07/obesity.preschool.children/

(CNN) -- Nearly one-fifth of American 4-year-olds are obese, and children of color are at higher risk, according to new research. Obese children are at risk for early onset of diabetes, fatty liver and musculoskeletal problems. Researchers calculated the body mass index from a sample of 8,550 Hispanic, black, white, Asian and Native American 4-year-olds. The children were born in 2001, and in 2005, their height and weight were measured -- 18.4 percent of them were obese.

Significant differences in the prevalence of obesity between racial/ethnic groups were evident at 4 years of age," the researchers wrote in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Using body mass index, they found that 31.2 percent of American Indian/Native Alaskans, 22 percent of Hispanics, 20.8 percent of blacks, 15.9 percent of whites and 12.8 percent of Asians were obese. "It's surprising that there are large differences by racial/ethnic group by that age," said Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University and lead study author. Anderson and co-author Robert Whitaker's analysis showed that children were becoming obese even before encountering soda and candy vending machines in schools.

snip



"The expectations, lifestyle, behaviors are different on a cultural and socioeconomic basis," he said. "Kids who live in the inner city, whose neighborhoods are perceived as dangerous, stay at home more, sit more, eat more snacks, because that's all they can get at the local bodega. There are no supermarkets to get produce. That's what mom is eating, so that's what kid is eating. What we're dealing with here is whole life issues."

snip..

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults fare no better. Approximately 45 percent of blacks, 36.8 percent of Mexican Americans and 30 percent of whites are obese. "It's a very bad sign if we see obesity at a young age," Robinson said. "When we see children obese at age 4, we're likely to see complications -- high blood pressure, abnormal lipids -- which can lead to heart disease and stroke, diabetes in children."

Diseases commonly seen in 40- or 50-year-olds are presenting in 6- and 7-year-olds. Obese children are developing type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and musculoskeletal problems, which occur because their bodies can't carry that much weight, doctors said. Calculate your child's body mass index.

snip

The first step is for the parents to acknowledge that the child is overweight, instead of making excuses or comparing him or her to heavier children. Many of the parents of obese children are overweight themselves, which makes that acknowledgment difficult, said Rich, who is also director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital in Boston.

snip


While it's possible for some kids to outgrow the excess weight, she warned parents not to count on that. "We've seen over time that the environment doesn't promote that," she said.
.................................................................................

much more here..and many articles..

More American Toddlers Battling With Obesity HealthKnowItAll
Is your child obese? Examiner.com
NBC Washington - The Associated Press
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CBC.ca
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Fresh News
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Docuticker
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Telegraph.co.uk
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KTUU - ‎Apr 5, 2009‎
Now child health experts say it's time to start a public discussion about it. "The reason we're so concerned about obesity and children is that it increases ...
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+ Based on current overweight and obesity trends, one-third of children today will develop diabetes over their lifetime. "This plan is a road map to use in ...

[Esra Star]

1. I read/heard recently that the use of fructose

as the main sweetening agent instead of sucrose was a bit of a problem obesity wise.
I haven't heard anything since, but the timing seems to be about right.
I'll see if I can find the article.

[SoCalDem]

4. It's a shame that more is not being done about "fixing" the problem

but of course that would require restrictions on "biddness" and what they can put into those "foods" people feed their babies & kiddos:(

TWO generations of kids have grown up since mass-produced adulterated foods were flooded into the marketplace, and it's way past time to "pass judgement" on its effect..

The main problem is the same as the issues of autism, extreme-allergies, school performance, cancer causation, etc.

The bombardment of MANY "things", all in a short amount of time (evolution-wise), provides ample excuses for each individual "culprit" to cling to.

People do not have the option anymore, to ease into things, one at a time.. Remember when pediatricians used to give shots one at a time, and foods were introduced one at a time?

Now we find ourselves where we are..with many and yet none specifically to "blame"..

Is it because so many Moms have to use daycare, where kids are sometimes not allowed (for insurance purposes) to run around and burn off excess calories?

Is it because parents buy drive-thru food, because they are too tired to cook?

Did a few generations not LEARN how to cook?

Are people too poor to afford fresh, wholesome foods?

Are parents too scared to let their kids take off on multi-hour bike rides?

Is it because schools have cut out phys ed in elementary schools? (Legal issues about kids getting hurt?)

So many possible contributing factors, but yet, each one has people "lobbying" for or against, and meanwhile 4T turns into 4XXX..and little kids take cholesterol & diabetes meds :(

[Esra Star]

7. I think I have the article.

You may find this interesting.

"Robert Lustig: I'm very interested in what's happened over the last 30 years that has fomented this obesity epidemic. And of course everyone says well, that's because you're eating too much, and you're exercising too little and of course that's true. But the question is what about our physiology allows this to happen, we have some built-in negative feedback mechanisms that are supposed to stop us from gaining too much weight but clearly they are not working. The question I've been interested in now for the last ten years is what is actually blocking that signal to the brain to tell our bodies to eat less and exercise more? Clearly something is getting in its way.

Over the course of those ten years I've done numerous experiments in people and have come up with the notion that this is actually one of the main functions of the hormone insulin. Insulin's job is to store energy, insulin's job is to make you gain weight.

Norman Swan: Transports sugar from the blood into cells.

Robert Lustig: Exactly, that's insulin's job. Let's take a diabetic off the street, blood sugar is 300 -- in Australian terms that would probably be something in the order of 15. We give them a shot of insulin, the blood sugar goes down to 100, that would be something like 4 or 5, the question is where did the sugar go? It went to the fat for storage. That's insulin's job, insulin's job is to take sugar from the blood and put it into fat for storage, more insulin -- more fat. Well all these kids who are walking around who are massively obese now have extraordinarily high insulins. The question is when your insulin is high and you're storing energy you make another hormone, and that hormone is called leptin, and leptin is supposed to go to your brain and tell your brain that you've eaten enough."

entire article:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2007/2104024.htm

Cheers

[SoCalDem]

11. Thanks.. that was very interesting..

There is some fancy brain chemistry going on, and they don't understand it yet

[Ilsa]

18. Here on DU.(Link below) Fructose reacts differently on the brain compared to

regular glucose. Glucose sets off a chemical reaction that causes the hypothalamus to issue a hormone to tell us to stop eating. Fructose inhibits release of that hormone, and in fact, tell the body to keep consuming.

HFCS may have the same calories as sugar, but it doesn't affect us the same way. It would be harder to resist the effects of hfcs, leading to obesity.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=191095

[Esra Star]

21. Thanks for that

It seems that the case may be building.

[nomorenomore08]

2. But on balance, if you had to choose, at least obesity is better than starvation.

Granted, I'm sure a lot of these "fat" kids are malnourished too - the cheap packaged crap their overworked, frequently impoverished parents are forced to buy ain't exactly high in necessary nutrients.

A sad situation all around, though, and a serious indictment of a nation that's all but lost its First World status by now... :(

[Ilsa]

13. I suspect most of them are undernourished. They probably have

limited instead of diverse diets.

[nomorenomore08]

14. I've seen evidence of this myself, spending time in Oakland CA.

Mainly seeing that there's a liquor store on damn near every corner in place of grocery stores, and these places don't offer much in the way of fresh produce, or healthy food period. Add in widespread poverty and unemployment, and the picture becomes bleak indeed. :(

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Saw another study just today about the additional calories kids get now because of sodas and other

sweetened juice drinks.

[SoCalDem]

5. My boys LOVED apple juice,

and then the pediatrician told me that it was mostly apple-flavored sugar-water, so from then on they got unsweetened iced tea..and occasionally koolaid (birthday parties etc)

We always drank iced tea, and told them "leave my glass alone" (with a wink-wink), and then we would get them their own.. they liked drinking what WE were having:)

We had skinny-boys, so no weight problems, but I was motly worried about their teeth:)

[SeattleGirl]

6. HFCS is in so many things now, not just sodas and juices.

Almost anything that used to have sugar as an ingredient now has HFCS instead. Even if you cut down on, or completely cut sodas and juices from your diet, or your child's diet. you're still going to get it in other things.

It's so infuriating.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

9. True, but

cutting out the concentrated sugar sources (i.e sodas, cakes, etc.) would eliminate much of the problem. It's true that they add HFCS to dressing and ketchup and the like but it's usually less than 10g's of sugar.

[Ilsa]

12. Yeah, even bread. But the higher priced juices are less likely to have HFCS in them.

Plus, they taste better, and you can dilute them for kids to drink because the flavor is so rich. Our favorite is Ocean Spray or Northland Cran-Grape. Unfortunately, I know that alot of families can't afford the better juices without HFCS.

Kids need to get used to drinking more water.

[malaise]

8. I stopped at the supermarket before coming home

earlier today and ran into my neighbours' three year old son and their household helper.
I offered them a ride home. The kid had this 12 oz pepsi and I asked her why she let him pick it up. She said his parents let him drink it. Well he wanted to open it in my car and I told him to wait until he reached home.

I can't believe parents today.

[SoCalDem]

10. I have seen parents put 7-Up in a BABY BOTTLE..

why? "he likes it"...:grr:

[malaise]

22. Crazy

and then people wonder why there are so many pre-teens with diabetes.

[Dogmudgeon]

15. It's not just snacks and TV

Here is a PARTIAL list:

• Xenoestrogens (and other endocrine disrupters);
• Dietary (mainly unmodified soy products -- e.g., tempeh is okay -- but there are many non-soy sources);
  
• Industrial (PCBs, HCB, phthalates, insecticides, plastics manufacture residue);
• Organic halogens (which also act like xenoestrogens) (see above);
  
• Enforced physical inactivity, not just TV -- it's mainly work and school;
  
• Trans-fats in diet;
  
• Unnaturally high levels of dietary simple sugars (mainly sucrose, fructose, glucose, maltose);
  
• Industrial "production" of meat and animal products, altering their physiological composition (not to mention inflicting lifelong misery on them);
  
• Radical overabundance of dietary omega-6 series polyunsaturated fats relative to the omega-3 series;
  (The ratio of w-6 to w-3 should be 1:1, but is now 4:1 up to over 25:1 -- for meats and vegetables alike);
  
• Agricultural soil depletion estimated at about 50% loss of nutrient value to crops;
  
• Very low dietary levels of potassium, magnesium, and essential trace metals (but see below for toxic metal concerns);
  
• Toxic metal pollution, primarily caused through coal burning and by the semiconductor industry;
  Aluminum (cookware) and (depleted) Uranium get the most attention, but are responsible for only a very small amount of metal waste pollution;
  Mercury and Lead are the big offenders, with Cadmium and Arsenic pollution growing fast;
  Thimerosal in vaccines, now discontinued, was so minor compared to Hg pollution that its role in autism is questionable at best; and
  
• Untreated, unrecognized depression, anxiety, and other "common" psychological disorders, which make behavioral change less effective.

But snacks and TV don't help, that's for sure. Most dieting actually exacerbates the problems through a number of mechanisms. This is primarily a problem of low-grade, mass public and planetary poisoning.

There are also parallel problems, from the absurd -- an epidemic of "man-boobs" and guys with near-zero levels of testosterone -- to the obscene -- an epidemic of cancers and degenerative diseases in both genders. Low testosterone in both genders, one of the primary direct results of endocrine disruption, is strongly linked to all of the above problems, plus heart disease, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disorders.

Obesity moralists, spare us the lectures about our evil slothful lifestyle. There is a body of medical literature on these subjects, and it is more numerous than all of Jay Leno's "fat ass" jokes and bigger than Yo(ur) Mama. We are basically pissing into our own well -- during a drought -- and forcing everyone in the world to pay dearly, financially and medically, for the privilege.

--d!

[SoCalDem]

16. That's the problem.. too many to pinpoint.. It's ALL of the above

and then some :(..

[nomorenomore08]

17. Great post. Chemicals are killing us, slowly but surely.

:thumbsup:

[hedgehog]

19. How many of the "obese "children are actually developing

the ill effects? How many of them were born into families where semi-starvation has been the norm for centuries? Their so-called obesity could be a result of their genes being switched to conservation mode getting ready for the day thee is no food. Or it could be that what white upper class doctors consider a normal body type doesn't hold true for other ethnic groups?

Give the families access to good basic food, put in some safe playgrounds and maybe run some sports leagues, then leave the kids alone.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

20. Education And Better Parenting. All That Is Necessary.

[Obamanaut]

23. According to some, all they need to do is adjust their "set point"

to a new number - the "body knows intuitively what is it's own ideal weight." Problem solved.

Edited to add I don't believe this for a moment. Kids, and adults, are not eating healthy foods, nor are they (kids and adults) getting adequate exercise.