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

When obese children are admitted to hospitals, most of the doctors do not record that they are overweight. Thus these children miss out on procedures such as screenings for cholesterol and diabetes, and education about nutrition and exercise.

• Dr. Anshu Gupta of the Virginia Commonwealth University, studied 80 children under age 18 who were admitted to a pediatric unit in a city hospital during a period of ten weeks.
• Although 30 of the children were obese and nine were overweight, doctors recorded such information about only four children.
• Only one child was referred to a clinic for obesity outpatient treatment.

Dr. Gupta notes that his study is problematical because obese children may be hospitalized at higher rates than children of normal weight.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society.
 

Labels: health, hospitals, doctors

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

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

Blue Cross and Blue Shield  has developed a program to help doctors in their efforts to treat childhood obesity.  The program was first tested in North Carolina, where one-third of all children are obese or overweight.

The Pediatric Obesity and Diabetes Prevention Pilot Program will be active in ffive states in an effort to help reduce childhood obesity and prevent future cases of diabetes.

The following is from a press release announcing the program:

The toolkit materials display healthy messages from The Good Health Club, a group of animal characters.  The Good Health Club encourages kids to:

• Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day
• Limit screen time to 2 hours or less
• Get at least 1 hour of physical activity
• Limit sweetened drinks to 0

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults.  Obese children or teens are at risk for health problems like heart disease and diabetes – the two leading causes of death in the United States.  The prevalence of obesity among children ages 6 to 11 has more than doubled in the past 20 years from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2006.1

 

Labels: health, doctors

Posted By: My Overweight Child 2 Comments