An estimated 10 percent of children -- or at least 155 million youngsters worldwide -- suffer from being overweight or obese.
The susceptibility to gain weight begins early (even in the womb), which is why a child can develop habits by the tender age of 3 ensuring they are likely to suffer from weight problems, noted a study of more than 9,000 children whose growth had been monitored since birth.
Thus, in an effort to curb the prevalence of childhood obesity, researchers devised a check-list to warn parents of the early signs of obesity in their children. The seven factors include:
In addition, children who are overweight or obese have an increased risk of succumbing to type 2 diabetes and of developing heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer later in life.
And while early growth risk factors were shown to contribute to childhood obesity, a number of lifestyle factors were also found to play a role. Thus, researchers believe a key to preventing childhood obesity is to modify lifestyle and environmental factors very early on.
British Medical Journal May 20, 2005 (Free Full-Text Article)
Reuters May 20, 2005
Considering that 30 percent of children in the United States are overweight and only 23 percent of parents polled in a recent study restrict the television their kids watch or the video games their kids play at all, the list is a helpful tool in the fight against the obesity epidemic.
Like most problems in life, preventing childhood obesity is far easier than treating it, although much of the success of prevention depends on parental involvement, and communication is the key.
You will not only need to set appropriate guidelines and talk to your children about nutrition and why what they are doing is so important, you will need to take the time necessary to create nutritious meals and snacks for them to eat. Perhaps even more importantly, you will need to act as a good role model for them. After all, it is completely unfair to your children to ask them not to eat things they later see you eating.
Dr. Ben Lerner and I will be releasing a book on this subject later this year. The book will offer some very specific practical guidelines that should have a major impact on this epidemic.
Until the book comes out, though, I have three powerful recommendations for your children’s health and well-being:
Limit their TV time and get it out of their bedroom immediately.
Get your children off the couch and onto the playground or, at the very least, to move around vigorously while they are watching TV!
Replace those sugary juices and soft drinks with clean water.
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