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a completely preventable illness related to overweight or obesity is not taken care of appropriately. Because of overweight or obesity, 20% of the US population will spend
less time serving communities and enjoying children and grandchildren.
America’s children are already seeing the initial consequences of a lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating habits. Fortunately, there is still time to reverse this dangerous trend in our children’s lives as most of America’s children are healthy. Overall, 82 percent of our nation’s 70 million children are in very good or excellent health. Infant mortality is at an all-time low, childhood immunization is at an all-time high. Our children are less likely to smoke, and less likely to give birth as teenagers. All these are important gains in pediatric health. But the bad news is.....
that an unprecedented number of children are carrying excess body weight. That excess weight significantly increases our kids’ risk factors for a range of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and emotional and mental health problems.
Every parent in America wants the best for their children. But the fact is that there is an epidemic of childhood obesity. A study conducted in May by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Education found that, adjusted to National Standards, nearly one in four of the children in New York City’s public elementary schools are overweight. There are, at least, three key factors that need to be addressed to reduce and eliminate childhood obesity in America. They are:
- Increased physical activity
- Healthier eating habits; and
- Improved health literacy
The facts are staggering: In the year 2000, the total annual cost of obesity in the United States was $117 billion. While extra value meals may save some change at the counter, they’re costing billions of dollars in health care and lost productivity. Physical inactivity and super-sized meals are leading to a nation of oversized people. This year, more than 300,000 Americans will die from illnesses related to overweight and obesity. Obesity contributes to the number-one cause of death in our nation's heart disease. Excess weight has also led to an increase in the number of people suffering from Type 2 diabetes. There are at least 17 million Americans with diabetes, and another 16 million have pre-diabetes. Each year, diabetes costs America $132 billion. It can lead to eye diseases, cardiovascular problems, kidney failure, and early death.
Why are we facing this epidemic of overweight and obesity? Over 50 genes associated with obesity have been located in the human gene map. But the ever-increasing problem of overweight among American children cannot be explained away by changes in genetic composition. Studies conducted by National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are already yielding important clues about the multiple factors that contribute to overweight and obesity. Studies are also providing new information about potentially successful interventions. We know more than ever about the combination of genetic, social, metabolic, and environmental factors that play a role in children’s weight. But the fundamental reason that our children are overweight is this: Too many children are eating too much and moving too little. In some cases, solving the problem is as easy as turning off the television and keeping the lid on the cookie jar.
Children did not create this problem. Adults did. Adults increased the portion size of children’s meals, developed the games and television that children find spellbinding, and chose the sedentary lifestyles that children emulate. So adults must take the lead in solving this problem. Businesses like Kraft Foods, Coca Cola, and Nike are supporting major efforts and making significant changes to help kids make healthier choices. These and other business leaders, foundations, schools and universities across our nation are starting to make a difference in children’s health. All organizations and every parent in America should join the fight against childhood obesity. Children should be taught to enjoy healthy foods in healthy portions. Parents should never use food as a reward or punishment. Children need to be encouraged to participate in physically activities for at least 60 minutes a day. Not only sports, but simple things like taking the stairs, riding their bikes, and just getting out and playing. As kids make healthy choices, adults should also force themselves to do the same.
James Baldwin captured the essence of this when he said: "Children have never been good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. Current families lives are such busy lives that it’s tough to prepare healthy meals and have enough time to get in some physical activity. But it’s so important, because the choices that children make now, the behaviors they learn now, will last a lifetime. Benjamin Franklin was absolutely right, back in the 1700s: "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". But more than 200 years later, prevention is still a radical concept to most Americans.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is encouraging healthy habits more than ever to eliminate health disparities; many governmental initiatives are designed to encourage physical activity, healthy eating, and regular checkups; nationwide campaigns are driven to discourage smoking and drug and alcohol abuse. Some people want to blame the food industry for our growing waistlines. The reality is that restaurants, including many fast food restaurants, now offer low-fat, healthy choices. For home meals as well as eating out, it’s still personal decisions of what to eat, where to eat, and how much to eat. Health literacy is the ability of an individual to access, understand, and use health-related information and services to make appropriate health decisions. Low health literacy contributes to our nation’s epidemic of overweight and obesity. For example, some mothers are unaware that they can promote their baby’s health through breastfeeding.
Studies indicate that many Americans don’t understand the impact of caloric intake versus expenditure. Every morning people wake up and, while they’re sitting at the kitchen table, they read the newspaper and the cereal box. Throughout the day they read the nutritional information on their meals and on their snacks. But do they really understand the information they’re reading? The labels list grams of fat. But do you know how many grams of fat you should eat in a meal? Or in a day? Or how many is too many? Or too few? These are seemingly simple questions, but we’re not giving Americans simple answers. Parents are hearing about overweight and obesity. So they’re trying to figure out how much food they should feed their children. How much is too much? How much is not enough? They’re concerned and confused about everything from calories and carbohydrates, to vitamins and portion sizes.
When children are growing and developing, a restrictive diet may not be the best choice for every child. Just as with adults, one diet does not fit every child. When a child is gaining weight and not exercising enough, it is very noticeable all the social and psychological pain it causes. Child’s self-esteem drops by the day because he/she is left out of schoolyard games, or because he just can’t keep up with the other kids on their bikes. Parents and pediatricians should establish healthy eating habits for kids. Parents should always talk to a pediatrician or family physician before putting any child on a diet or beginning any vigorous exercise plan. The reality is that often, if a child is overweight but still gaining height, the best thing parents can do is maintain the child’s weight. Kids come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes a child just needs a little more physical activity and a little less food intake.
Again, it’s not about blame — it’s about balance. And to make healthy choices, parents and children need easy-to-understand information that fits into their busy lifestyles. Everybody — government, academia, health care professionals, businesses, schools, and communities — need to work together to ensure that straightforward information about healthy eating and physical activity is available. The food pyramid it’s probably the most-recognized nutrition guideline tool in America. HHS is looking forward to working with the Department of Agriculture to evaluate and update the food pyramid based on the latest scientific evidence. America has also created one of the biggest weight loss industries in the world but we still lack of proper information. Ads are directed to visualize how models look and how weight loss products will make look but they are still missing the most important ingredient health literacy.
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