Healthy Kids: Addressing Childhood Obesity

Today’s topic has become a common theme in recent decades, but it’s helpful to talk about what the scientific literature is showing so we can make good choices for our families. Globally, we continue to see a rise in overweight and obese children. This information is pretty well known, but, for me, the interesting part is that children generally grew in a healthy manner, meaning their height and weight increased proportionally so they maintained a healthy weight until age 5. But during the school years, they started to either gain too much weight or too little height for healthy growth. 

So, the question that begs to be asked is, why does this trend start after age 5 and not before? We know that a child’s height and weight are indicators of the quality of their diet and living environment, as well as being predictive of future health and well-being. So the answer to this question reinforces the importance of promoting healthy growth across all developmental years. 

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the last episode of Season 2 of Proactive Parenting. Wow! That really flew by quickly. But, as always, we will wrap up this season by maintaining this judgement-free space to learn how to raise value-driven kids in a way that is right for your family, using the most current scientific research out there. 

I’m your host, Dr. Deanna Marie Mason. I’m a certified pediatric nurse practitioner, published author, and a professional who has devoted my career to studying and using child development to help parents manage childhood issues. 

So, grab a cup of coffee or tea and settle in to learn something new about your child because when we know better, we do better. 

Today’s topic has become a common theme in recent decades, but it’s helpful to talk about what the scientific literature is showing so we can make good choices for our families. Globally, we continue to see a rise in overweight and obese children. This information is pretty well known, but, for me, the interesting part is that children generally grew in a healthy manner, meaning their height and weight increased proportionally so they maintained a healthy weight until age 5. But during the school years, they started to either gain too much weight or too little height for healthy growth. 

So, the question that begs to be asked is, why does this trend start after age 5 and not before? We know that a child’s height and weight are indicators of the quality of their diet and living environment, as well as being predictive of future health and well-being. So the answer to this question reinforces the importance of promoting healthy growth across all developmental years. 

What complicates this issue is that our children are constantly bombarded with visual images about what it is to be beautiful and what is an ideal body. Social media, movies, and television give conflicting information about diet, exercise, and body size. What is considered beautiful and handsome and what is not seems to change constantly and requires the purchasing of products, foods, programs, or regimes to meet the beauty standard. To confuse children and teens even more, in this edited media world, thin, beautiful women and men eat and drink everything yet remain in perfect form. An impossible feat if one every existed. 

Making matters worse, our children are exposed to more and more information, via the Internet, about different types of diets, such as juice cleanses, no carb, no fat, no sugar, all meat, no meat, or a multitude of supplements meant to melt off fat while sleeping to deliver a perfect body with sculpted abs and defined arms. The sellers of these products or diets do not share what risks they can have to growing and developing bodies. Nor have many, if any, been rigorously tested to determine their effectiveness or safety. 

Ironically, all this happens while more and more food is ultra-processed, food is being advertised as a form of entertainment, and targeted marketing campaigns for high-fat, high-sugar, low-nutrient foods are focused on children at younger and younger ages. So both ends of the spectrum are coexisting in the social media feeds and programming our children watch each day. 

Is it any surprise that childhood obesity is growing throughout the developed world? Information about what is normal has been lost. Children and teens perceive images of models and actors as being “normal.” However, in many cases these people are below normal measures for body mass and would be classified as under-weight. Similarly, children and teens may measure themselves against their peers to determine if their weight is appropriate. Yet, with more and more children and teens being overweight or obese, this too may lead to inaccurate conclusions. It’s hard to know where to look to get accurate information about a healthy weight for our growing kiddos. 

In both America and Europe, the rates of overweight and obese children are worrisome. The US and Europe are experiencing similar rates of around 20% with excess weight. So approximately one-fifth of children are heavier than they should be for their height. 

When speaking with parents whose children are overweight or obese, they often see this as an aesthetic issue problem that can negatively affect children’s self-esteem and social interactions, which is true. However, there are more pressing dangers of being overweight or obese during childhood and adolescence that are being revealed by international studies. So to help us understand what is happening globally, let’s look at the statistics. 

Current studies from both Europe and the Americas found that diabetes diagnosis are skyrocketing among children and youth aged 0-22 years. From 2011-2015, the number of children with a diabetes diagnosis more than doubled at 109%. And children diagnosed with pre-diabetes, which is also called insulin resistance, also more than doubled at 110%. 

In a similar way, cardiovascular, or heart, and renal, or kidney, diseases are also increasing at alarming rates among children and teens that are overweight and obese. School aged children, age 6-9 years, are measuring increases in high blood pressure rates at 103%, with middle school children at 63% and high school and college students at 75%. Over time, these health impairments can cause permanent damage to the eyes and extremities, like their arms and legs, and shorten life spans. 

With so many mixed messages from different sources, it’s understandable that many parents are unaware that their child is overweight or that being overweight or obese may have negative health consequences. Parents who want to know more about the unique status of their child should always seek the advice of their health care professional to help them better understand their child’s health status. Height is quite easy to measure, but weight is a more complicated variable. Knowing if the child’s weight comes from lean muscle mass, adipose or fat tissue, or water retention due to an underlying health problem for side affect of a medication can greatly change how the numbers on a scale are interpreted. This is why it’s recommended to seek professional advise for growing children and teens. There are also growth spurts where weight is gained just before a height increase happens. A pediatric provider will be able to help parents understand all these unique characteristics that influence the assessment of weight. 

Generic terms such as overweight and obese may appear to be just cosmetic terms, but in reality they may identify potential health concerns. Knowing how extra weight can negatively influence our children’s bodies can be a wonderful motivator to make changes within the family to correct any excess weight issues. Parents are encouraged to work closely with their health care provider to create plans to modify the diet and exercise habits of overweight and obese children to ensure that growth and development are not negatively affected while weight issues are corrected. 

It is never too early to get started and even small reductions in a child’s overweight status can have multiple positive effects on their overall health. 

I know weight is can be a touchy subject, but when we put it in the context of the health and well-being of our children it becomes clearer on why the issue is important to address. As always, there is a lot more to say and learn about this topic, but for now I’ll wrap things up here. As always, I welcome your comments or questions about this episode. Please don’t hesitate to connect with me at deanna@proactiveparenting.com. And if you want to find out more about who I am and what I do, please take a look at my webpage, .proactiveparenting.com. 

You can also go to Facebook and Instagram to connect with other parents just like you. Find me by searching for my name - Deanna Marie Mason. Finally, if you would like to purchase any of my books, online courses, such as Newborn Care or Breastfeeding Bootcamp, or audio courses, you can find all those resources on my webpage, again that is www.proactiveparenting.com 

Thanks so much for listening to Season 2. If you missed any episodes, please feel free to go back and fill in what you missed or re-listen to any you really enjoyed. And, there is always Season 1 to explore if you haven’t already taken a listen. As we close of the season, I hope you found both this episode and the season’s topics useful and interesting. My goal is that the time you shared with me left you feeling a bit more in control and confident in making decisions that are right for your family. If you found this to be true, please consider leaving a comment and telling a friend so they can become a Proactive Parent too! 

Well, that’s all from me for right now. This is Dr. Deanna Marie Mason signing off. I look forward to connecting with you again in season 3. But until then, take care and be well. 

Bye!