Childhood Obesity - Do you have an overweight child? We offer tips to help your child lose weight and get fit!

The Walt Disney Company plans to spend $1 million to build playgrounds in ten underserved communities and to create a series of public service announcements aimed to inspire young people to eat healthy foods and to exercise more.

Disney's "Magic of Living" campaign will work in conjunction with First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiatives as another way to reverse the trends of childhood obesity in the United States.

Nearly one in five American children ages six to 19 is obese, which is three times the rate in 1980.

"We are very proud to take the next step in a long-term commitment to helping families achieve healthier lifestyles, and are especially gratified to work with the First Lady on the 'Let's Move' campaign, said Bob Iger, president of the Disney company.
 

Labels: prevention, awareness, playgrounds

Posted By: My Overweight Child 1 Comment

Overeating may be a vicious circle in that the more you do it, the more likely you are to do it again, according to new research from the University of Texas and the aura gone research Institute. The cycle makes obesity reluctant to treatment.

• Dr. Eric Stice and his colleagues used brain imaging techniques to monitor the brains of participants who drank milkshakes first and then liquids without taste.
• The research team measured their pleasure levels by observing how the two drinks activated certain areas of their brains.
• Obese people experienced less pleasure from the taste of the chocolate milkshakes than other participants in the study, and had to drink more in order to receive the same pleasure as slimmer subjects.
• The research team then reassessed the subjects six months later.
• The participants who gained weight over that period were the ones most likely to have shown less brain activation when they ate the milkshakes.

"Although recent findings indicate that an obese individual may experience less pleasure when eating, and therefore eat more to compensate, this is the first prospective evidence to show that over eating itself further blunts the award circuitry," said Dr. Stice. "The weakened response of the reward circuitry increases the risk for future weight gain in a feed-forward manner. This may explain why obesity typically shows a chronic course and is reluctant to treatments."

The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.
 

Labels: overeating

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 1 Comment

A study from the Brookings institute says that obesity costs the United States of America over $215 billion a year.

• The researchers included obscure costs such as money for increased fuel needed to transport overweight people on airplanes.
• They also included more obvious things like medical expenses, decreased productivity, and absenteeism from work.
• The study estimated that direct medical spending alone for obesity costs $86 billion to $147 billion a year.

Two out of three American adults are overweight or obese.

Labels: obesity_rates, costs_of_childhoood_obesity

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 1 Comment

A professor at the University of California has discovered a link between the common cold and childhood obesity.

• Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer, a professor of pediatrics at U.C. San Diego, tested 124 children for adenovirus 36.
• He found that only 22% of children who tested positive were not obese.
• Seventy-eight percent of the obese children in the study tested positive for the virus.
• Those obese children in the study who tested positive averaged 35 pounds heavier than obese children testing negative.

The adenovirus 36 is a common virus that causes many colds and intestinal upsets.

Dr. Schwimmer said his research was in its early stages, but "it could have significant implications in the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity in the United States and around the world."

Labels: childhood_obesity, childhood_health

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Poor diet and insufficient exercise puts children at risk for asthma even if they are of normal weight, according to a new study from the West Virginia School of Medicine.

• Dr. Giovanni Piedmonte and colleagues used data collected on 18,000 children ages 4 to 12 years old that included information on demographics, body mass index, and metabolic dysfunction.
• Asthma was more likely to occur among those with high triglyceride levels and those who had biomarkers for insulin resistance.
• Both of these as well as asthma are more prevalent among overweight and obese children, but Dr. Piedmonte found that asthma could develop into normal weight children who also had both metabolic markers.

"Both imbalanced nutrition and inadequate exercise may play a role in metabolic syndrome, and our experience suggests that degree of physical activity may be as important as nutrition," said Dr. Piedmonte. "Our present data suggest that strict monitoring and dietary control of triglyceride and glucose levels starting in the first years of life may have a role in the management of chronic asthma in children."

This study appears in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Labels: diet, exercise, asthma

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A recent survey of Canadian doctors found that many of them feel they don’t have the resources they need to fight childhood obesity. They also warned that if the problem isn’t taken seriously, obesity-related health problems could soon overwhelm the health-care system.

“More than 800 family physicians and pediatricians participated in a survey focused on childhood obesity management. Among the top recommendations physicians listed diets with more fruits and vegetables and greater physical activity. But the physicians also pointed to barriers in treatment, including a lack of government-funded dietitians for referrals.” - Source: The Star Phoenix

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff says the first step in dealing with childhood obesity is for both parents and kids to acknowledge weight issues. Studies have shown than some parents underestimated their kids’ weight, which means they’re not even aware that there’s a problem that needs attention.

Labels: health, pediatricians, doctors

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 1 Comment

A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that obese teens who are given a choice between gastric bands and gastric bypass surgery prefer the bands. However, the procedure is relatively new among young people, and its safety is still in question.

“Gastric band surgery may appeal to teens because of an intense marketing campaign by manufacturers, the researchers wrote. The adjustability and possible reversibility may also appeal to young people… Insurance concerns may also drive surgery choices: Those who were paying for their own procedures were more likely to get gastric band surgery (it’s less expensive).” - Source: Live Science

Because of the uncertainties about both the safety and efficacy of gastric band surgery in teenagers, the procedure hasn’t been approved by the FDA for use in young people. Exceptions can be made, but researchers emphasized that gastric surgery of any kind should be a last resort for obese teens who have tried diet and exercise but haven’t been able to lose weight.

Labels: gastric band, teens, surgeries

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 2 Comments

Researchers throughout the world have studied obesity, and in many cases have concluded that the cause is simple: too much food and not enough physical activity. Is it possible to teach those who are prone to overeating to enjoy being self-controlled?

“In one study, the researchers asked participants to hold pieces of candy between their fingers, and put it in their mouths and then take it out. ‘The goal of this task was to let people perform tasks with the candy but not be able to actually eat the candy,’ the authors explain. Once the participants completed the initial tasks they moved on to taking unrelated surveys.” - Source: MediLexicon

The surveys measured participant perception of the task. Those who were more self-controlled viewed the task as a game – they were playing with the candy. Those who had less self-control viewed the task as work. In a similar study, participants exhibited more self-control when a task was labeled as “fun.” Researchers believe the study results show that self-control can be improved if it’s perceived as being fun rather than an obligation.

Labels: self-control

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 1 Comment

Too much "screen time" in front of computers, video games, and television makes teenagers fat, according to a study from the University of Montréal and the Sainte Justine Hospital Research Center.

Teenagers in the study who used these devices the most often tended to be heavy, and those who increased their screen time during the course of the five-year study gained the most weight. Those who decreased their screen time tended to end up with healthy weights.

Dr. Tracie Barnett and her colleagues studied 744 children starting in the seventh grade. They recorded the children's screen time, time spent exercising, as well as their heights, weights, and body fat composition four times a year for five years.

"Our findings show that youth are at greater risk of increased body fat if screen use increases through high school," said Dr. Barnett. "One possible reason is that teenagers who increase their screen time are simultaneously reducing involvement and in opportunities for more active pursuits. ... The high levels of screen time observed in our study underscore the need for public health strategies to reduce overall screen time among youth."

This study appears in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
 

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, screen_time

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 1 Comment

Yet another reason to encourage children to exercise: Middle school students perform better on mental tasks if they are physically fit, according to a new study from the University of Illinois. The children who were in good physical shape had enlarged hippocampi. The hippocampus is an area of the brain associated with better spatial reasoning and cognition.

• Professor Art Kramer and his colleagues used magnetic resonance imaging devices (MRIs) to watch brain images of 49 children ages nine and ten years old.
• The researchers focused on the size of the hippocampus, and found that those of physically fit children were 12% larger.
• This group of children performed better on tests that measured their ability to remember and to integrate information.

Dr. Kramer said that these findings suggest that interventions to increase children's physical activity could have an important effect on their brain development.

"If you get lousy genes from your parents, you really cannot fix that, and it's not easy to do something about your economic status," he said. "But here's something we can do something about."

The study appears in the journal Brain Research.

Labels: brain_activity, exercise, physical_activity

Posted By: CRC Health 1 Comment

Morbidly obese people have five times the risk for suicide after they undergo weight loss surgery, according to a new study from the University of Pittsburgh.

• Dr. Hilary Tindle and her colleagues tracked 16,683 people from Pennsylvania who had undergone bariatric surgeries between 1995 and 2004, and discovered 31 suicides in the group.
• The rate of suicide for the group was 14 per 10,000 man per year and five per 10,000 women per year.
• This compares to the annual suicide rate of the general population in Pennsylvania, which is two men per 10,000 and 0.6 women per 10,000.
• All 31 people in the study committed suicide within three years of their surgeries.

Dr. Tindle was quick to point out that her study does not mean that bariatric surgeries cause suicide. She believes that some patients suffer from depression and other mental health problems along with obesity. One study of bariatric surgery candidates found that 66% had experienced an "Axis 1" disorder, which is a combination of mental health problems that include anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse.

However, Dr. Tindle said that her new findings indicate that there is a general need for better monitoring of patients after surgery, especially because over 225,000 Americans now undergo bariatric surgery every year.

The study appears in the American Journal of Medicine.
 

Labels: weight loss surgery, suicide

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