MadChild
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<DIV class=storyheadline>Face it: Our kids are downright fat</DIV>
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<TD>Michael Fumento</TD>
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<TD>National Post</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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Tuesday, August 12, 2003</DIV>
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<TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Deaths, crime, smoking, binge drinking and pregnancies are all down among American children, according to a just-released federal report. But the celebration was muted because it also showed most American kids will soon outweigh a medium-sized walrus.
As one Canadian wire story put it, U.S. children are becoming, "Well-behaved little butterballs." Even blind people have been able to observe this girth growth; what used to be the pitter-patter of little feet has become more of a rumble.
But don't even think about smirking, because the trend is even worse in Canada.
Since 1980, the number of obese U.S. children ballooned by 2 1/2 times, according to the Report on America's Children, produced by two U.S. federal agencies. Fifteen per cent of Americans aged six to 18 are obese, compared with merely 6% in 1980.
Incidentally, "obese" doesn't mean simply overweight; in technical terms it means "downright fat."
And here, as in the United States, childhood obesity rates are exploding -- albeit with a larger blast radius. Between 1981 and 1996, obesity in Canuck boys aged 7-13 increased almost 400%! True, Canadian kids were still thinner than their American counterparts -- then. But remember that the U.S. data continues to 2001.
God only knows what's been happening in Canada in those last five years. But as the University of Saskatchewan's Mark Tremblay, lead author of the April 2002 issue of the International Journal of Obesity in which those numbers appeared, says, it's "frightening."
Using "overweight" as a measure, a study in the May 2003 issue of the same journal found that British Columbia's increase was more than 500% over those 15 years, while Newfoundland takes the dubious prize for most overweight kids at over a third of its population. Canadian male children ages 7-8 are more than four times likely to be overweight as their English counterparts and five times more so than their Scottish peers.
People, this is child abuse. Studies show that fat children (beyond about the age of two) are far more likely to grow up to be fat adults. And fat adults have a far greater likelihood of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, arthritis and an amazing array of other diseases.
Childhood diabetes from obesity has become so common that "adult-onset diabetes" has dropped out of use, replaced with the term "type-2."
What's to blame for this? Maybe that should be changed to "whom?" Is it the fault of a three-year-old; or more likely that of her 33-year-old parents?
Children eat more junk than ever, more food in general, watch more TV, play more video games, and do fewer outdoor activities. Most of this happens right at home.
Parents don't need an Idiot's Guide to understand how to change this. They need to make sure the children eat better, limit TV and video game time and go out and play with the neighbours' kids.
Perhaps more importantly, they need to set a good example. It's hard (and unfair) to tell your kids to flip off Captain Planet when they see you watching back-to-back episodes of Seinfeld five days a week.
And don't think your kids don't notice what you're eating, how much you exercise or how fat you yourself are -- or that it's not important.
In 2001, more than one-fifth of American adults (44 million) were obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 74% leap since 1991. The Canadian adult population appears to be fattening at a similar rate, although again the 1996 cut-off prevents a direct comparison. Obesity increased 55% among Canadian men and 50% among Canadian women from 1981 to 1996.
Now consider that parental obesity more than doubles the risk of adult obesity as well as the chance that their children under 10 will be overweight, as the New England Journal of Medicine reported in 1997. Genetics may play a role, but as the study's lead author pointed out, "Our genes aren't changing that fast. Instead, children imitate their parents' eating and exercise habits."
Health Canada makes the same observation, noting in one of its studies, "Children say that parents are their most important source of information and influence for healthy eating."
So no: "Do as I say; not as I do."
Schools also deserve blame. Mention the letters "PE" to a child these days and he'll think you're talking about using the bathroom. Blaming budget cuts, schools are banishing PE so quickly that it will soon appear only in history books.
But parents can demand that schools bring back formal exercise, as well as influence the lunch menus and limit access to junk food.
Tremblay and his co-authors also declare, "The obesity epidemic will not subside any time in the near future unless aggressive public health campaigns against obesity are implemented widely and quickly."
But there will never be a substitute for personal responsibility, regarding obesity or anything else. For a child, there will never be a substitute for a caring, attentive parent who's willing to endure occasional whining, weeping eyes, a tantrum -- or even the ultimate guilt-trip trick, "But all the other kids' parents let them do it!"
Yes, and many will suffer and die because of it.</DIV>
<TABLE width="100%" border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD> </TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Michael Fumento</TD>
<TD vAlign=top align=right rowSpan=2></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>National Post</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<DIV class=storydate>
Tuesday, August 12, 2003</DIV>
<DIV class=storytext>
<TABLE width=5 align=right border=0 hspace="10" vspace="0">
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Deaths, crime, smoking, binge drinking and pregnancies are all down among American children, according to a just-released federal report. But the celebration was muted because it also showed most American kids will soon outweigh a medium-sized walrus.
As one Canadian wire story put it, U.S. children are becoming, "Well-behaved little butterballs." Even blind people have been able to observe this girth growth; what used to be the pitter-patter of little feet has become more of a rumble.
But don't even think about smirking, because the trend is even worse in Canada.
Since 1980, the number of obese U.S. children ballooned by 2 1/2 times, according to the Report on America's Children, produced by two U.S. federal agencies. Fifteen per cent of Americans aged six to 18 are obese, compared with merely 6% in 1980.
Incidentally, "obese" doesn't mean simply overweight; in technical terms it means "downright fat."
And here, as in the United States, childhood obesity rates are exploding -- albeit with a larger blast radius. Between 1981 and 1996, obesity in Canuck boys aged 7-13 increased almost 400%! True, Canadian kids were still thinner than their American counterparts -- then. But remember that the U.S. data continues to 2001.
God only knows what's been happening in Canada in those last five years. But as the University of Saskatchewan's Mark Tremblay, lead author of the April 2002 issue of the International Journal of Obesity in which those numbers appeared, says, it's "frightening."
Using "overweight" as a measure, a study in the May 2003 issue of the same journal found that British Columbia's increase was more than 500% over those 15 years, while Newfoundland takes the dubious prize for most overweight kids at over a third of its population. Canadian male children ages 7-8 are more than four times likely to be overweight as their English counterparts and five times more so than their Scottish peers.
People, this is child abuse. Studies show that fat children (beyond about the age of two) are far more likely to grow up to be fat adults. And fat adults have a far greater likelihood of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, arthritis and an amazing array of other diseases.
Childhood diabetes from obesity has become so common that "adult-onset diabetes" has dropped out of use, replaced with the term "type-2."
What's to blame for this? Maybe that should be changed to "whom?" Is it the fault of a three-year-old; or more likely that of her 33-year-old parents?
Children eat more junk than ever, more food in general, watch more TV, play more video games, and do fewer outdoor activities. Most of this happens right at home.
Parents don't need an Idiot's Guide to understand how to change this. They need to make sure the children eat better, limit TV and video game time and go out and play with the neighbours' kids.
Perhaps more importantly, they need to set a good example. It's hard (and unfair) to tell your kids to flip off Captain Planet when they see you watching back-to-back episodes of Seinfeld five days a week.
And don't think your kids don't notice what you're eating, how much you exercise or how fat you yourself are -- or that it's not important.
In 2001, more than one-fifth of American adults (44 million) were obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 74% leap since 1991. The Canadian adult population appears to be fattening at a similar rate, although again the 1996 cut-off prevents a direct comparison. Obesity increased 55% among Canadian men and 50% among Canadian women from 1981 to 1996.
Now consider that parental obesity more than doubles the risk of adult obesity as well as the chance that their children under 10 will be overweight, as the New England Journal of Medicine reported in 1997. Genetics may play a role, but as the study's lead author pointed out, "Our genes aren't changing that fast. Instead, children imitate their parents' eating and exercise habits."
Health Canada makes the same observation, noting in one of its studies, "Children say that parents are their most important source of information and influence for healthy eating."
So no: "Do as I say; not as I do."
Schools also deserve blame. Mention the letters "PE" to a child these days and he'll think you're talking about using the bathroom. Blaming budget cuts, schools are banishing PE so quickly that it will soon appear only in history books.
But parents can demand that schools bring back formal exercise, as well as influence the lunch menus and limit access to junk food.
Tremblay and his co-authors also declare, "The obesity epidemic will not subside any time in the near future unless aggressive public health campaigns against obesity are implemented widely and quickly."
But there will never be a substitute for personal responsibility, regarding obesity or anything else. For a child, there will never be a substitute for a caring, attentive parent who's willing to endure occasional whining, weeping eyes, a tantrum -- or even the ultimate guilt-trip trick, "But all the other kids' parents let them do it!"
Yes, and many will suffer and die because of it.</DIV>
