Children younger than 4 years of age are not immune to the epidemic of obesity that has swept the modern world.
A new study chronicles a sharp rise in the number of infants and toddlers who were classified as obese between 1989 and 1998.
Overweight children are more likely than their leaner peers to grow into obese adults, and excess weight is a major risk factor for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and death, the study authors note.
The concern is that we will see significant increases in the numbers of these cases in the future if our children continue to gain weight at this alarming rate.
During the study period, the rate of obesity among all children rose to 9% from 5% and the rate of overweight rose to 24% from 15%. Researchers blame low levels of long-term breastfeeding and the hectic pace of modern life.
The majority of families have both parents working and it is easier to entertain the toddler with a sweet drink in front of the TV than to play with them in the evening. In fact, children are losing the skills to play. Interventions that encourage physical activity and weight loss should be targeted to children younger than 4 years.
British Medical Journal February 10, 2001; 322: 326-328
It is a major tragedy for this country's children that their parents are abusing them with abrogating their responsibility to provide them with nourishing food. Admittedly, most of this is not intentional and they are succoring to the marketing pressures and convenience of the food processing industry.
Nevertheless, the end result is the same - severely compromising of the health of their children.
It is my experience in counseling families that the major issue is rarely severe resistance of the children in switching their foods, but rather the parent's unwillingness to make the shift because they believe it would be "too difficult" for their children (or themselves).
Part of the solution also involves removing the TV from the home. This is something I have mentioned many times before but more than likely has not yet been implemented by most families.
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