Testing It Up

For years, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Heart Association (AHA) recommended skim  or low-fat milk for children after age two, particularly in kids who stand a risk of becoming overweight. But a new study suggests that choosing skim or low-fat milk over whole milk is not necessarily the key in preventing childhood obesity.

Dr. Mark Daniel DeBoer and colleagues studied more than 10,000 children, ages 2 to 4, and found that obesity is equally prevalent among kids who drank skimmed or semi-skimmed milk.

“The association [between the consumption of low-fat milk and obesity] was really striking, in that it was present in every single racial ethnic group and every single social strata. So it was quite consistent,” DeBoer, an associate professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, said in a news release. “And it was also [noted] at both 2 years of age and 4 years of age. The children who drank skim were the heaviest, then 1 percent, then 2 percent and then whole milk. Children who drank whole milk had the lowest weight score.”

The researchers said their findings send a very clear message to parents. That is, lifestyle factors are more important than the choice of milk that children consume.

DeBoer recommends avoiding foods high in saturated fat, decreasing soda consumption and reducing television watching as more effective strategies in cutting down the risk of obesity in children.

“The amount of calories you take in versus the amount you spend – your balance of calories – is going to determine how much you weigh,” DeBoer said. “So the logic has always been, you should drink skim milk because you’re taking in fewer calories. The problem is that only applies to the milk portion of your diet. If drinking whole milk makes you full, so that you aren’t hungry to eat a bag of chips, then that overall would cause you to have fewer calories going in. So there is the possibility for whole milk being a better satiety agent and holding down other calorie consumption.”

The study, written by DeBoer, U.Va. researcher Dr. Rebecca Scharf and Ryan T. Demmer of Columbia University, was published online by the Archives of Disease in Childhood journal.

A study, which surveyed 1,043 Georgia families with children ages 11 and younger, shows that a large percentage of parents are in denial about their own children’s obesity issues.

According to the result, 42 percent of the surveyed families have overweight or obese kids. Of those families, 76 percent of the parents misclassified their children as either underweight or normal weight, the United Press International reports.

Dr. Stephanie Walsh, medical director of wellness at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, noted that many parents fear engaging in a discussion about weight and body issues with their kids more than the talks about sex and drugs.

Walsh recommends that in order for parents to effectively talk with their kids about the problem of childhood obesity, they should have an honest conversation with themselves about family health risks, as well as the habits and the kind of role models they want to be for their children.

“It’s time for parents to be stronger than the thoughts that hold them back,” Walsh said in a statement.

In the United States, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that the percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the country who were obese increased from 7 percent in 1980 to nearly 20 percent in 2008. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5 percent to 18 percent over the same period.

Children who are obese are more likely to be obese as adults , and therefore making them more vulnerable to a lot of health risks, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.

Even with the advent of computers, tablets, and smartphones, watching television remains a favorite past time among children. But beware with the habit, though, because a new study found that children’s muscular fitness decreases the more hours they spend in front of the television. Consequently, their waist lines become larger as they approach their teens; thereby, posing potential threat in their health as they reach adulthood.

The study, featured in BioMed Central’s open access journal International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, was conducted by a team of researchers from Montreal University in Canada to investigate the relationship between early childhood television viewing and physical fitness in school age children. A sample of 1,314 children from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development were examined for the study.

The researchers found for each hour per week of watching TV at the age of 29 months, children scored 0.361 cm less in the Standing Long Jump. A one hour increase in average weekly television exposure from 29 to 53 months was associated with a further 0.285 cm reduction in Standing Long Jump test performance. Interpretation of the study result suggested that watching television excessively in early childhood, may eventually compromise muscular fitness and waist circumference in children as they approach pubertal age.

“TV is a modifiable lifestyle factor, and people need to be aware that toddler viewing habits may contribute to subsequent physical health. Further research will help to determine whether amount of TV exposure is linked to any additional child health indicators, as well as cardiovascular health,” said leading researcher Dr Caroline Fitzpatrick from New York University

Several studies in the past have link television watching to obesity in children — an epidemic that is affecting millions of children in the United States. The growing cases of child obesity in the country has alarmed the government and parents due to the consequences it may contribute to the health of affected children.

When one talks about high blood pressure, more often than not, thoughts turn to the belief that it is a condition that affects old people. A new study, published online in the journal online in the journal Hypertension, observed a steep increase in the number of young people sent to the hospital for high blood pressure.

The study found that hospital stays for Americans aged 18 and below due to high blood pressure nearly doubled over a ten-year period – from 12,661 in 1997 to 24,602 in 2006. The researchers pointed out further that high blood pressure among kids is becoming more common, with the condition affecting up to 3% of children in America.

Joshua Samuels, MD, of the University of Texas, who wrote an editorial published along with the study, shared: “significant increases in blood pressure are likely riding the wave of pediatric obesity that is spreading across America.”

Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, on the other hand, shared: “This could be a huge wake-up call. When I read an article like this, I feel like standing on the buildings in New York City and screaming. Children are getting sicker and sicker as they’re getting more obese. There’s going to be a huge increase in heart disease and health care costs because of this… Children who have hypertension usually become adults with hypertension. And children who are obese usually become obese adults, with all the chronic conditions associated with that.”

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Missouri revealed that childhood obesity affects how a child performs in school, specifically in math.

Sara Gable, associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri and lead author of the study, shared: “Obesity that persists across the elementary school years has the potential to compromise several areas of children’s development, including their social and emotional well-being and academic performance.”

The study, which involved an analysis of data from more than six thousand children enrolled in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, found that children who were obese during the course of the study period had lower math scores in the first through fifth grades, when compared against children who were not obese.

The study gathered information from the study participants, starting from kindergarten, and followed them through the fifth grade. Parents provided feedback regarding family dynamics, while teachers reported on the social skills and emotional well-being of the children, on five different occasions. The researchers then measured the height and weight of the children, and administered academic tests.

In addition to poorer math performance, the researchers also found that overweight children reported feeling sadder, lonelier, and more anxious, than their peers who are of more average weights. The researchers said that the children’s negative emotional state might be contributing to the children’s poor performance in math.

Experts say, however, that while weight may contribute to poor academic performance, there are probably a variety of other factors that also contribute to the overall well-being of an obese child. Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale Prevention Center, shared: “Obesity does not prevent kids from doing math, but obesity develops in families where there may be less oversight, less education, fewer resources… we certainly can say that obesity affects everything from self-esteem to social standing to mood and even hormonal imbalance, so the likelihood that there would be a whole cascade of effects between weight and math test scores is very high.”

It is said that childhood obesity in America has risen to epidemic proportions, and all across the country advocates are coming up with programs to address this concern. An experimental childhood obesity program in Rhode Island has achieved success and will soon be rolling out in other states as well.

The “Join For Me” program of the Greater Providence YMCA, sponsored by the insurance company United Health Care, teaches kids about nutrition. They learn to choose fruit over potato chips, grilled food over fried food and small portions over large ones. The program, according to director Cindy McDermott, also includes parents, in recognition of the fact that eating habits are learned at home.

McDermott shared: “People think that children won’t eat fruits and vegetables, they don’t like those foods. They do like those foods. They need to be exposed to them, and learn that they’re actually better for their body.”

Among those who have benefited from the program is Tyler Sumner, who at 7 years old, already weighed 110 pounds, nearly double the normal weight for someone his age. At the time, he already had trouble breathing, and was at risk for diabetes. His dad, Mike, shared: “He would come home, his feelings would be hurt. He would say, ‘Dad, I just want to be like everybody else,’ or ‘Dad, I just don’t feel that great today,’ or ‘I’m tired.’”

Tyler’s parents, Mike and Kim, enrolled him in the “Join For Me” program, and since then, he has lost 20 pounds. He lost the first 11 during the program; the rest he lost by continuing to practice the healthy habits he learned.

“Join For Me” will soon be available for kids and their parents in Texas and Louisiana.

Faced with a childhood obesity epidemic, school districts in the United States are said to be contemplating on removing what has become a staple on cafeteria lunch trays: chocolate milk.

The beverage has long been viewed as a healthier alternative to such beverages as sodas and sugary fruit drinks, but it does share a common ingredient with them: sugar. According to a report by the Associated Press, there are school districts that have actually implemented a ban against flavored milk, while Florida has considered a statewide ban in its schools.

Meanwhile, Superintendent John Deasy of the second-largest school district in the country, Los Angeles Unified, has announced that he would push for the removal of chocolate and strawberry milk from school cafeteria menus over the summer.

There is, however, mixed opinions regarding the efforts to remove chocolate milk from schools. Such organizations as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetic Association, and the American Heart Association, say that the nutritional value of flavored low-fat or skim milk trumps the risk posed by added sugar. There are studies that indicate that kids who consume fat-free flavored milk are able to meet more of their nutrient needs, and do not weigh more than those who do not drink milk.

Julie Buric, vice president of marketing for the Milk Processors Education Program, said: “Chocolate milk has been unfairly pegged as one of the causes of obesity.”

However, Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services for the Boulder Valley School District in Louisville, Colorado, said: “Chocolate milk is soda in drag… It works as a treat in homes, but it doesn’t belong in schools.” The Boulder Valley School District has banned flavored milk.

A cup or 8 ounces of white milk contains 14 grams of natural sugar or lactose, while fat-free chocolate milk has an extra six grams of sugar for a total of 20 grams. Fat-free strawberry milk contains 27 grams of sugar, equivalent to an eight-ounce serving of Coca-Cola.

Florida Health Screening

You may feel like such a monster when you take the comforting baby bottle from your toddler, but you may actually be doing what is best for your child’s health, at least according to a recent study. Researchers from Temple University determined that prolonged bottle feeding may actually set a child up for obesity later in life – as early as by the time they get to kindergarten.

According to a feature on ABC News, the study indicated that weaning children at the appropriate time may help decrease the obesity rates among children in the United States. This should occur when the child is between 12 to 14 months, based on information from childhood development specialists.

The study was a joint effort between Dr. Robert Whitaker and Rachel Gooze of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University, and Sarah Anderson, an epidemiologist at the College of Public Health of the Ohio State University. It was published in the recent Journal of Pediatrics.

Dr. Debra Bogen, an early childhood nutrition specialist at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, gave the following comment: “I agree that prolonged bottle feeding is likely another modifiable lifestyle risk factor for obesity in children… It may establish an eating pattern that encourages more frequent intake than is necessary.” Dr. Bogen was not involved in the study.

In addition to being a risk factor for obesity in older children, prolonged bottle feeding is also linked with tooth decay, especially if the child is drinking sugary drinks from the bottle.

A recent national study revealed that while the number of older Americans who suffer strokes has declined, more people who are aged 5 to 44 suffered acute ischemic stroke as of 2007.

A feature on the Voice of America shared the results of the study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which compared the number of stroke hospitalizations in 1994 and 1995, against hospitalizations in 2006 and 2007. It was determined that the number of younger people who suffered a stroke increased by 50 percent.

An ischemic stroke is caused by the blockage of blood flow to the brain, due to a blood clot or fatty deposit. The blockage leads to a lack of oxygen, which, in turn, destroys brain tissue, which can cause paralysis or death.

In addition, researchers observed a 31 percent increase in stroke admissions among boys aged 5 to 14 years old, while a 36 percent increase was observed in hospitalizations among girls in the same age group.

This increase in stroke-related hospitalizations is being linked by public health experts to an increased incidence of obesity in children and young adults. This is not the be-all and and-all of the matter, however; the CDC’s Mary George said that the increase in ischemic strokes among younger Americans merits further investigation.

She said: “Whether this is perhaps related to changes in patient factors, in risk factors, or whether it’s related to changes in hospital admitting practices over time… Whether it’s related to improved diagnostic ability over time and heightened awareness. There’s a variety of reasons that might lead to this.”

The age at which infants start to consume solid food may increase the infant’s risk for obesity at three years of age, based on the results of a study shared in a feature on The Wall Street Journal.

The study was conducted by researchers from Harvard University, and published online in the journal Pediatrics. It indicated that infants who were formula-fed and were introduced to solid food before reaching the age of four months were more likely to be obese upon reaching the age of three years, as opposed to those who were given solid foods after they were four months old.

The results provided further credence to the guidelines set by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommend that infants be introduced to solid foods between the ages of four to six months old, according to gastroenterologist Susanna Huh, one of the researchers involved in the study.

There was, however, no link found between the timing of introduction to solid food and obesity in infants who were breastfed.

The researchers studied data from 847 children, who were part of Project Viva. Project Viva is a broader study that enrolled more than 2,000 women in Massachusetts, who were pregnant between 1999 and 2002. The health of the children born to these women was the subject of the study.

Project Viva received funding from the federal government and the March of Dimes, and linked weight gain in women during pregnancy to how heavy their children will be at three years of age. For this current research, the data provided through a questionnaire regarding the timing of introduction of such solid foods as cereal and vegetables, as well as breast feeding and formula feeding, and answered by the mothers, was used by the researchers.