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Feb15

How To Recognize If Your Child Is Obese: Results from a Pediatrician’s Office

Posted in: Child Obesity, High Cholesterol, Obesity and Weight Loss

Many studies now show parents underestimate their overweight kids’ weight.

A New York pediatrician’s office shows that barely 10% of parents of overweight kids actually thought their kid was overweight.

In contrast, fully 60% of parents of normal-weight kids knew that their kid’s weight was normal. Parents of overweight kids were off by an average of 45%tile.

Parents of normal-weight kids who underestimated are more likely to be concerned about their child’s weight than parents who get it right.

Parents most likely to make changes are those who knew that they themselves were overweight, had overweight kids over 8 years old, and those who thought their kid had a health problem.

Obese children have a high risk of diabetes, high cholesterol and metabolic syndrome. These are all disorders thought only to occur in adults–like my patients–until several years ago.

Bottom line: parents have a hard time discerning when their child is overweight, and it is different for adults than for kids. For kids, use the BlubberBusters BMI for kids calculator: good, clear explanations and info.
Dec6

Nonstick Cookware, PFOA and Your Cholesterol

Posted in: Environmental Health, High Cholesterol, Wellness and Health

With the fear of fat that still dominates Americans’ nutritional interest came the widespread use of nonstick cookware, including panini makers, countertop grills and saute pans.

But a recent Archives of Pediatrics cholesterol report analyzing over 12000 children finds that those with highest levels of PFOA and PFOS–chemicals used in nonstick cookware creation–also have, by far, the highest cholesterol levels.

In 2006, the EPA asked companies including Dupont, which produces Teflon, to stop using PFOA by 2015, and they agreed.

The EWG showed that nonstick “could reach 700 degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 3-5 minutes.” And high heat–even at pan temps of 464 degrees Fahrenheit– produces toxic gases from nonstick coatings, killing pet birds (really!).

The same PFOA causes cancer in animals.

Cholesterol is one of the best studied markers for heart disease, and in the U.S., statins are often prescribed.

But well-done nutritional and exercise programs have lowered cholesterol without statins, and have been reported in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Too much LDL cholesterol and too little HDL cholesterol is a recipe for heart disease, stroke, erectile dysfunction and early memory loss, and possibly prostate cancer.

There are good nonstick cookware sets available, by Cuisinart and others, without PFOA. And every parent (and grandparent) now has another reason to cook with safe cookware.
Mar1

Child Obesity Starts Early…Two Books to Help

Posted in: Wellness and Health

The idea that childhood obesity is about food and starts early is not new, especially for my Paging Dr La Puma readers and for Jamie Oliver fans (I’m a huge fan).

What is new is that parents do not recognize obesity in their kids, and that “normal weight” is now publicly perceived to be much greater than 85th percentile for age.

90 per cent of excess weight gained by girls before puberty is before they are five years old. The figure is 70 per cent for boys.

Preventing childhood obesity begins early…really early. Flavor preferences begin in the womb. Your baby will like what you eat. Btw, eat for 1.1 (about 10 percent more), not 2!

Eat, Sleep, Poop (already a to-be-Hollywood movie by the producers of Four Christmases) is just on time. Pediatrician Scott Cohen writes about his baby’s first year, and predictably, finds that much of what he was taught in medical school doesn’t work for him as a new dad.

Like American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed Pediatrician Laura Jana’s Heading Home with Your Newborn, Cohen’s book includes decking out the nursery, introducing your baby around, and everything about early child development.

The average preschooler sees 642 cereal ads per year just on television, almost all for cereals with the worst nutrition ratings.”

The kids cereals with the best ratings?

Mini-Wheats, Organic Wild Puffs, Honey Sunshine, Mighty Bites and Clifford Crunch. You might not have heard of them, but I hope you will.

And food companies have a great opportunity too: emulate their successful, heavily advertised marketing approaches for healthier ones. Make their sites totally engaging: other cereals turn into toys or playthings. Why not healthier cereals?
Feb10

What's Missing from Michelle's Obesity Initiative: Personal Responsibility

Posted in: Wellness and Health

Marion Nestle has a nice summary of coverage of Michelle Obama’s powerful announcement yesterday, with NYTimes, USA Today and Marion Burros Politico.com coverage.

She also has a refreshing view: this is one step in the right direction, perhaps a baseball single instead of a home run.

I think it’s closer to a double –because media, big food companies and the environmental standards are all aligned to profit from it and get a move-more message across. The White House has even held a gaming summit to look for solutions, a smart idea, which includes UCSB’s Debra Lieberman.

Here, from the WSJ today, is the outcome of personal responsibility—for the under 5 set. Moms of infants and toddlers get it…look at the last 5 years.
Child Obesity by Age Group

What’s missing? Personal responsibility. Parents setting limits, making decisions for kids not yet to adolescence, role modeling. A plant-centered diet, with a model plate. Standards that we can measure about kids other than just their weight to–not just growth charts, but health charts. What’s needed is a personal, hands-on diet approach for kids who need to be on a diet.

For adults, it’s easier to change their environment than to change themselves, and to make it fun…almost a game. For kids, too.

But this still starts with identifying the problem (most parents don’t know their kid is overweight), and owning it…and then laying out a diet plan that can work, with accountability and self-monitoring.
Feb9

Child Obesity: The Way Forward, on a Diet (plus Moving)

Posted in: Wellness and Health

I can’t wait as Michelle Obama now bares her new tools and guns for “Let’s Move” to fight child obesity.

Maybe she can help school officials to change their thinking even more.

For example, why is it “parents’ responsibility to forbid children at risk of obesity to buy candy” as the Orange County High School rotund principal insists, as a school secretary (is this retro, or what?) gives the go-ahead for daily rounds with Skittles and other day-glo candy, picking up teen pocket change here, there and everywhere?

Paradoxically, candy rounds are for uniforms and equipment for athletic teams.

The CDC and Dr Bill Deitz have it right: pediatric obesity has leveled off (about 1/3 of kids are obese or overweight) and one reason is that some schools (other than OC obove) are starting to get it. Get the soda and candy out, and water and better snacks in.

But at first blush, Let’s Move still seems to be about helping kids to eat burgers and fries and ice cream and cake. Haven’t we had 30 years of too much of that?

Helping kids with their weight means putting some of them on a diet…and their principal. A diet that is an eating plan that they can live with, whether or not they know it’s a diet. The adults will know.

But the kids might just learn and love that they’re getting real food, not fake food. And real food for kids is the way forward, for kids who need to lose weight and keep it off, forever.