But Please Don't Start Supersizing
As I am sure many of you are already aware, the results from an impressive epidemiological study were just released in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which highlight a possible turning point in the fight against childhood obesity.
Dr. Cynthia Ogden and colleagues found no significant change in the prevalence of overweight children and adolescents between the years of 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 following the calculation of their body mass index (BMI).
And certainly, this is something to be applauded. So everyone, please stand up and take a quick bow so we can get back to work tackling this issue that is far from resolved. I'd like to highlight some of the other findings of the study. When using the BMI (which is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) here is also what was found (nothing new but still disturbing):
- 11.3% of the children and adolescents aged 2-19 years were above the 97th percentile (where optimal lies around the 50th percentile)
- 16.3% were above the 95th percentile
- 31.9% were above the 85th percentile
Think about it--nearly 1/3 of U.S. children are overweight. And even though this number appears to have stabilized (I look forward to the analysis of the 2007-2008 data to confirm this potentially positive news), I'm still astonished by it. Unless changes are made, these children will live with an increased risk of developing a variety of lifelong physical and mental health issues including diabetes, heart disease, sleep disorders, and gastrointestinal-related disease.
It appears strides have been made in stabilizing the childhood obesity numbers. But now is not the time to let up. We all must work harder on reversing the trend. It begins in our homes (please see my blog regarding what we can do as a family unit in tackling the childhood obesity dilemma http://dailystrength.org/blog/106-childhood-obesity-we-can), continues in our schools and communities, and carries on through life. Our children deserve this.
In fact, as a reminder that perhaps we are doing the right thing, something occurred just today when a father of an overweight child shared his concern about his son's weight (something I rarely saw parents do years ago) and his hope that I would give it the appropriate attention in an upcoming well child care visit. I had already planned in doing so.
Dr. Jeremy
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Lizzie,
I certainly agree with many of your points...too thin is not what we should be reaching for because there are health consequences as well. However, the numbers do not lie when we've seen a tripling of the body mass index (BMI) in children over the last 2-3 decades.
By DrJeremy June 4, 2008 9:55am
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I posted here earlier but it seems to have been deleted for which Dr Jeremy has apologised. So I will say this again. Basically what I said was first of all, there is not a risk of 'diabetes', there is a risk of type 2 diabetes. It is important to distinguish between the two types.
I think that everyone should get education on healthy eating and exercise whether they are fat or thin. Many thin people do not eat healthily - some either eat badly and exercise so they don't put on weight, or they don't eat enough. Thinness is not a guarantee of health. It is not fair on anyone to demonise fat people as the only ones eating badly - fat people get the stigma and thin people do not learn about healthy eating and exercise. There nay be so and so number of fat kids - but what about the thin kids? Is it just taken as a given that they are eating healthily just because they are thin? I think people are different sizes and their size, weight, and waist measurements should not be taken out of proportion, they are just some of the aspects of lifestyle which make someone healthy or unhealthy.
By Lizzie June 3, 2008 9:58am
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Sinner,
I don't think the issue is to debate whether it is over dramatized as the numbers are what they are. However, there may be a better way of determining what is more significant as it relates to health problems...possible just measurizing waist size.
By DrJeremy June 3, 2008 8:41am
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I don't go to fast food restaurants much anymore, but they always seem to want to push the big sized food, it usually made me mad so I don't go much these day's.
By MikeIntheDesert June 3, 2008 12:51am
1
you do know that the obesity epidemic is over dramatized right?
By Sinner86 June 2, 2008 10:22am