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| Overweight child |
Editor -Experts tell us that being overweight is a factor in the development of certain major diseases, and that intervention in childhood can help prevent some of these diseases. Several years ago University of North Carolina researchers outlined simple ways to help intervene early to prevent obesity.
The study confirmed parents do not recognize their children have a weight problem. So they need to get this information up front through pediatricians education and a set of tools identified to educate parents and children about the risks of being overweight.
“Doctors often don’t have time to discuss overweight; they don’t have the tools to do it; and many aren’t confident that they’re going to make a difference in their patients’ lives,” said Eliana Perrin, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and lead author of the study, published in the July-August issue of Academic Pediatrics
"Also, parents don’t recognize weight problems or don’t know how to make things better, and even if they do, there are often barriers to healthier eating or more activity for these families,” Perrin continues.
First Lady Michelle Obama has a campaign to help identify children who are overweight and encourage them to reduce. The campaign's focus, caled “Let’s Move!” aims to reduce childhood obesity. That's because it has een found that almost one-third of young people are overweight.
Sedentary behavior puts children at risk, according to Perrin's study. She found that reducing time of playing video games or watching television can be helpful as part of helping children avoid the weight gain that comes from what she calls "screen time."
“We found something we can do to help stem the obesity epidemic,” says Perrin, whose previous research in childhood obesity has shown that using a body mass index, or BMI, chart color-coded like a traffic light helps parents understand the often confounding measurement.
By improving parent education, the study found most significant improvement in dietary changes among children who were overweight.
Perrin says. “The research has to be replicated and expanded, and it must determine if improvements in parental perception of children’s weight motivates families to improve behavior and, ultimately, leads to healthier weight over time,” she says.
“Everyone’s talking about BMI and we have a lot of studies to show that parents do not see their overweight children as overweight. That often does not sink in with parents,” Perrin says. “This is the first time we have seen a changed perspective from parents. We hope that parents who know their children are overweight will be empowered to help them achieve healthier lifestyles that can last a lifetime.”
An obesity organization will be meeting in November of 2015 to further expand and explain issues of obesity. The organization publishes a journal to offer research on the subject and to help educate people for understanding the development of obesity and the health problems that develop from it.
A call to action from Obesity.org in 2014 referenced the severe rise in childhood obesity. The President of the Obesity Organization, Steven R. Smith, who emphasized that professionals and parents need to move beyond BMI and look at behaviors that lead to the problem of obesity. That problem has increased dramatically since the 1980's and that the need for further research is urgent, pointing out other factors beyond BMI and simple factors need to be examined as well. These include an examination of the roles of epigenetics and nutritional programming, as one of the factors found in research into obese children found genetic factors. Epigenetics goes beyond genetics itself in that it examines the DNA and how modifications to it are turned on and off. This leads to a learning of why some children become overweight and others do not and what behaviors or changes may occur over time. This shows how the issues in being overweight are complicated. He underlined the fact there is still much to know about the problem:
"In other words, our ability to chart the problem greatly exceeds our ability to understand the problem and we should redouble our efforts to use the best tools of science, medicine and discovery to seek answers to help move all of our children toward a healthier future."
In the meantime, what do scientists recommend parents and professionals do to help overcome the rising epidemic of obesity in children?
Professionals tell us there are ways to fight the epidemic by doing some of the following and more that are listed on a website highlighting specific interventions for parents. One thing they say in helping reduce being overweight is to watch how you, the parent, eat and how you use food. It is recommended not to focus the child's attention on weight but healthy eating instead. Don't use food to comfort a child, as many parents do with the "here's a cookie, so don't cry" when a child falls or feels hurt by something. Experts also recommend not nagging about weight and to look at the patterns of parental behavior that magnifies the problem of being overweight. Other interventions are listed here.
Obesity is a world problem, a global epidemic. And while many children in the world go hungry, the World Health Organization, in outlining the continuing upturn in obesity throughout the world, with 600 million people being obese, 42 million are children, and that "overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight."
WHO and the other organizations studying and advocating for helping to reduce obesity in children continue to tell us that whereas the problem is growing it is preventable. And parents play a key role in that prevention.
I
The study confirmed parents do not recognize their children have a weight problem. So they need to get this information up front through pediatricians education and a set of tools identified to educate parents and children about the risks of being overweight.
“Doctors often don’t have time to discuss overweight; they don’t have the tools to do it; and many aren’t confident that they’re going to make a difference in their patients’ lives,” said Eliana Perrin, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and lead author of the study, published in the July-August issue of Academic Pediatrics
"Also, parents don’t recognize weight problems or don’t know how to make things better, and even if they do, there are often barriers to healthier eating or more activity for these families,” Perrin continues.
First Lady Michelle Obama has a campaign to help identify children who are overweight and encourage them to reduce. The campaign's focus, caled “Let’s Move!” aims to reduce childhood obesity. That's because it has een found that almost one-third of young people are overweight.
Sedentary behavior puts children at risk, according to Perrin's study. She found that reducing time of playing video games or watching television can be helpful as part of helping children avoid the weight gain that comes from what she calls "screen time."
“We found something we can do to help stem the obesity epidemic,” says Perrin, whose previous research in childhood obesity has shown that using a body mass index, or BMI, chart color-coded like a traffic light helps parents understand the often confounding measurement.
By improving parent education, the study found most significant improvement in dietary changes among children who were overweight.
Perrin says. “The research has to be replicated and expanded, and it must determine if improvements in parental perception of children’s weight motivates families to improve behavior and, ultimately, leads to healthier weight over time,” she says.
“Everyone’s talking about BMI and we have a lot of studies to show that parents do not see their overweight children as overweight. That often does not sink in with parents,” Perrin says. “This is the first time we have seen a changed perspective from parents. We hope that parents who know their children are overweight will be empowered to help them achieve healthier lifestyles that can last a lifetime.”
An obesity organization will be meeting in November of 2015 to further expand and explain issues of obesity. The organization publishes a journal to offer research on the subject and to help educate people for understanding the development of obesity and the health problems that develop from it.
A call to action from Obesity.org in 2014 referenced the severe rise in childhood obesity. The President of the Obesity Organization, Steven R. Smith, who emphasized that professionals and parents need to move beyond BMI and look at behaviors that lead to the problem of obesity. That problem has increased dramatically since the 1980's and that the need for further research is urgent, pointing out other factors beyond BMI and simple factors need to be examined as well. These include an examination of the roles of epigenetics and nutritional programming, as one of the factors found in research into obese children found genetic factors. Epigenetics goes beyond genetics itself in that it examines the DNA and how modifications to it are turned on and off. This leads to a learning of why some children become overweight and others do not and what behaviors or changes may occur over time. This shows how the issues in being overweight are complicated. He underlined the fact there is still much to know about the problem:
"In other words, our ability to chart the problem greatly exceeds our ability to understand the problem and we should redouble our efforts to use the best tools of science, medicine and discovery to seek answers to help move all of our children toward a healthier future."
In the meantime, what do scientists recommend parents and professionals do to help overcome the rising epidemic of obesity in children?
Professionals tell us there are ways to fight the epidemic by doing some of the following and more that are listed on a website highlighting specific interventions for parents. One thing they say in helping reduce being overweight is to watch how you, the parent, eat and how you use food. It is recommended not to focus the child's attention on weight but healthy eating instead. Don't use food to comfort a child, as many parents do with the "here's a cookie, so don't cry" when a child falls or feels hurt by something. Experts also recommend not nagging about weight and to look at the patterns of parental behavior that magnifies the problem of being overweight. Other interventions are listed here.
Obesity is a world problem, a global epidemic. And while many children in the world go hungry, the World Health Organization, in outlining the continuing upturn in obesity throughout the world, with 600 million people being obese, 42 million are children, and that "overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight."
WHO and the other organizations studying and advocating for helping to reduce obesity in children continue to tell us that whereas the problem is growing it is preventable. And parents play a key role in that prevention.
I
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