Childhood Obesity
Childhood overweight and obesity have become increasingly common over the past 20 years. Today, about 1 in 7 American children between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight. Overweight and obesity in children are problems for many reasons:
- Being overweight can have a profound, negative effect on self-esteem.
- Overweight and obesity that begins in childhood often continues into adulthood, leading to increased risks for heart disease, high blood pressure, and other serious medical conditions.
- Type 2 diabetes was once considered a disease of adults only. Now, as a result of the epidemic of overweight and obesity, an increasing number of adolescents are developing this disease.
Parents pass on much more than their genetic traits to their children; the way they act and the food choices they make can also have a profound effect on their children's food choices as well on as their interest in physical activity. If you or your spouse is overweight or obese, you can help yourself as well as your children by making healthier eating habits into a family affair. You don't have to empty your refrigerator and start from scratch. Even small, positive changes in what you eat and how you eat can potentially make a difference in overweight and obesity issues in children over time.
The consumption of sugar is a good example. Families can make a point of learning what foods are rich in sugar content, and can begin to choose alternatives based on that knowledge. This is important because, since 1970, the amount of sugar consumed in the United States has increased 23%. Many prepared foods marketed to children and teenagers, such as soft drinks, sugar-sweetened beverages, cakes, cookies, and candy, contain corn-based sweeteners, refined cane and beet sugars, and other syrups. Among young people, soft drinks are the major source of added sugars. Choosing water, or a beverage sweetened with a non-nutritive, or non-caloric sweetener such as sucralose (Splenda), or a sugar-blended beverage (made with lower amounts of sugar products combined with a non-nutritive sweetener) can decrease the total amount of calories children take in.
Specific suggestions for helping your overweight child
- If your child is overweight or obese, or if he or she gets little or no exercise, there are many ways that you can help them develop different, healthier habits.
- Working with your family physician or pediatrician
- Ask your child's doctor to calculate and plot his or her BMI every year
- Ask your doctor if there has been any inappropriate weight gain and, if so, ask your doctor for recommendations on how to deal with it.
General measures
- Let your child's appetite determine how much he or she eats. Don't demand a "clean plate."
- Don't use food as a reward or punishment.
- Talk with your child about making healthy choices, not about weight or appearance.
- Eat together as a family more, and try to eat out less. When families do not eat meals together, they tend to eat fewer fruits and vegetables and more fried food and soft drinks.
Creating a more active family
- Limit time spent online, watching television, and playing video games to a maximum of two hours per day for children over age 2. [Note: The American Academy of Pediatrics has advised that children younger than 2 years of age should not watch television at all.]
- Use an exercise machine, such as a treadmill or stationery bike, while watching television.
- Take active vacations: Go hiking or ride bicycles.
- Whenever possible, walk instead of drive, for errands such as going to the grocery store or post office.
- Eat together as a family more, and try to eat out less. When families do not eat meals together, they tend to eat fewer fruits and vegetables and more fried food and soft drinks.
Eating better as a family
- Drink more water.
- Limit soft drinks and fruit juice to 4 oz. per day for children under 2 and less than 6 oz. for children over 2.
- Put a clear limit on high calorie snacks such as potato chips, granola bars, and cookies.
- Eat more vegetables and fresh fruits.
- Keep healthy snacks, such as fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole grain crackers, in the house.
- Eating too quickly often results in overeating, so try to play the "Put the Fork Down" game. Put your fork or finger food down between bites and take your hand away and try to catch one another not taking a break between bites.
Making the best of fast food
Sometimes you just don't have any other option but fast food. In these situations, follow these suggestions to keep the total calorie count from getting out of hand:
- Order a regular-size hamburger instead of a large cheeseburger
- Skip french fries altogether
- Drink water, diet soda, or skim milk instead of regular, sugar-sweetened soda
- Choose a regular-sized drink instead of a large drink
Breaking old habits
Many of our choices with respect to the foods we eat, how we eat, and how we exercise (or don't exercise) are unconscious. In other words, we often develop habits as children, or as young adults, and we stick with those habits as we age without giving much thought to how our choices may affect our health. The goal of this section on aafp.org, is to bring those unconscious choices to light, and to offer reasonable suggestions for new choices and new behaviors that will contribute to better health.
Organizations
- Office of the Surgeon General (http://www.surgeongeneral.gov)
- Shaping America's Youth Initiative (http://www.shapingamericasyouth.com)
Adapted from American Academy of Family Physicians