If the topic of kids and nutrition comes up these days it seems every media outlet is on the childhood obesity bandwagon and think all kids do these days is sit in front of the TV, play video games, and eat McDonalds.
I guess you can’t argue with stats but have you really noticed fat kids everywhere? Not that they don’t exist but more than normal?
Everytime I pass a school there’s tons of kids running all over the playground and they all look rail thin like they always have. My 4 year-old is a thin kid, all the kids in his class are thin kids, all the kids in our neighborhood (16 I can count) are thin with the exception of two chubby kids, my nieces and nephews are thin and our friends kids are thin.
Now sure I’ve seen overweight kids here and there but no more than back in the 70s when I was a kid.
So is this more hype than reality?
The CDC says:
I know that I’ve certainly seen a lot of fat kids, particularly in my hometown. Obviously that doesn’t mean that every child is obese.
Googling childhood obesity statistics turns up many graphs like this that show childhood obesity increasing and ones like this showing that US children are considerably more obese then other industrial countries (except Malta for some reason, go figure).
So US kids are fat and getting fatter. So far as I can tell the main health problem associated with this (aside from big kids having to endure a lot of teasing) is that fat kids tend to grow up to be fat adults, with all the associated health problems later in life.
Umm, it isn’t JUST kids…
Well, out here in the Great South West I can anecdotally say that, indeed, kids are fat and getting fatter, at least from my day (which was, granted, a long time ago). My own kids, while not obese are certainly plumper than we were when we were kids…and their kids are even plumper than they were. I think it’s a combination of there being more food available (processed foods that they can just pick up and heat up, as opposed to having to cook), eating out more (when I was a kid back when dinosaurs roamed the earth we almost never ate out…it was a special treat that happened many once or twice a year, at most), and a more sedentary lifestyle (we obviously didn’t have computers or video games when I was a kid…hell, we didn’t have a TV in our house until the early to mid-70’s…I watched the moon landings on our neighbors TV and it was the only one in the neighborhood at the time).
-XT
Check out some school photos from the 1980s back to the 19th century. The number of fat kids is much greater today that it was in days gone by. The same is true of adults though. Looking at old photos there just aren’t that many fat people and those that are tended to be older or they were President Taft. Hell, they had to change the name of Adult Onset Diabetes because it’s become so common in children these days because of obesity.
Thing is though, I grew up in the 80’s, and we had copious access to video games, TV, fast-food and hot pockets back then to. But kids have continued to become obese in larger numbers even after all those things became available to even lower income families. You’d think obesity would have leveled off 20 years ago if bad food and electronic entertainments were the sole cause.
But they weren’t as pervasive then. In the 80’s video games were first coming onto the market, and not everyone had one (I bought the family it’s first video game system in '85 IIRC). TV was there of course, but it was still TV…again, we didn’t even get cable until the late 80’s in my house, and I doubt I was the only one. Certainly there were computers as well, and while it’s true I had one I was in the minority…and the kiddies were certainly not allowed to touch the thing. There was no real internet then either, not as it is today.
As for food, it’s true there were fast food places, but it was still a treat in my family…we might take the kids out to McDonald’s or Taco Bell (when the food was still edible) once a month.
Personally, what I would expect is that kids in the 80’s were getting fat, kids in the 90’s fatter, and kids today at an all time high for achieving maximum density (and I say this as a fat, balding male who is at least 20lbs overweight and rising). As these things all became and become more prevalent I think the trends get deeper.
But that’s just my WAG and anecdotal feel for things. I could be completely wrong and it wouldn’t be the first time.
-XT
7 years on this message board, and you would still rather rely on selective impressions and anecdotes than stats?
The major problem is, as we are told over and over on this board, it is really, really hard to lose weight once you put it on. So the fight against obesity needs to start with prevention, and that starts with children. Teaching them to eat right and exercise isn’t just for them now, it’s for them (and society as the costs of obesity continue to rise) in the future.
It’s the kids of your generation that are the first ones growing up where the parents think that this is “normal” behavior, perhaps.
That’s 13%. Yes, that’s a lot (although lower than the national average.).
We had four fat kids in my entire *grade *when I was in elementary school. Few enough that I can remember them by name, out of 120 students in my year. 3%.
Yes, I’ve definitely noticed it at my daughter’s school. Lots of little chubbers, although they’re still outnumbered by the skinny kidlets. We have a lot of Hispanic and low-socioeconomic kids there, who are statistically some of the more likely to be obese, and that does mesh with my observations.
Part of the observational problem, I think, is that we’re getting so used to obesity, visually, that we don’t always recognize an obese kid (or adult) when we see one. A kid who’s just a little “chunky” may be medically obese and on those obesity charts, but our eyes just skim over them and don’t count them in our anecdotal experiences. Especially now that there are probably one or two *really *chubby kids in their class - we notice *those *kids are obese, but not their slightly less but still obese classmates.
And it’s not JUST video games and running around outside. The American Journal of Health Promotion just published a study showing that one third of 9-month old babies are obese or overweight. Babies! Something else is going on here… (hint: it ain’t breastfeeding…)
I remember back in elementary school there was only one - ONE - fat kid in my class. He stood out, because he was fat and was known as Lenny the Fat Kid. In high school, there weren’t more than a handful of overweight kids, and even they were more ‘husky’ or ‘big-boned’ people. Not waddling Bobby Hill type- little fat loads like you see just everywhere now.
I don’t think describing kids this way is going to do anything for this discussion. And yes, count me as another vote that this is a real problem. I remember what Little League and rec basketball were like when I was playing and I remember what I saw when my youngest brother was playing 10 years later. It’s anecdotal but there were a lot more overweight kids. It was an obvious difference.
nm, off topic
It’s not just “media hype”. You know, I enjoy watching the show Bullshit with Penn and Teller (on Netflix…might not even still be on Showtime:confused:), but sometimes, THEY are the ones full of bullshit, as they were when they did a show on the “obesity epidemic” and why it was all a bunch of hooey. :rolleyes:
Esp. with kids, it is a HUGE problem and increasing.
Ask any pediatrician; the first things they look for nowadays are type 2 diabetes (which not so long ago used to be pretty rare in kids) and early onset heart disease linked to diet and lifestyle (ditto). Drs. are seeing things in children they used to only see in adults, and seeing them in adults far more often than they used to (Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver, pre-diabetes, joint problems due to weight, etc…)
When these kids hit adulthood, watch out.
My kids’ new Dr., when he saw them last year, his first comment upon looking over their stats and them was, “Well, no worries about diabetes here!” He was pleased, and went on to say how many of the kids he saw were overweight or obese and either had diabetes or were pre-diabetic (FTR, he works with a largely lower income Black and Hispanic population).
I worked with young children for about 15 yrs in my first career, and anecdotally, yeah, lots more fat kids now than there used to be.
Why? I think there are several factors involved.
Genetic predisposition coupled with exposures which trigger it. For instance, a great many Hispanic kids (one of the fastest growing populations in the U.S. currently) and adults are overweight or obese, and there is evidence that their genetics place them at higher risk when they consume a diet high in refined sugars/carbs.
I suspect there are similar predispositions in some other populations, including some subsets of Blacks, Asians and Anglos. Numerous studies have found similar increases in overweight and other dietary/lifestyle related problems in populations immigrating to the U.S. and switching from their native diet/lifestyle to the “S.A.D.”, Standard American Diet. FTM, rates of obesity and other health conditions are on the rise in Japan and China as they adopt a more “western” diet (e.g. McDonalds and Coke).
Poverty. Not only strongly influences which foods are most likely to be consumed (fact is, refined, higher fat, “junkier” fare is cheaper and more easily obtainable by many who live in less well-off areas than the fresh, whole, healthier fare the better off tend to consume) but the inequity when it comes to opportunities to exercise tend to differ widely based on socio-economic status.
If you live in a poorer area, odds are higher that your community will lack the amenities of richer areas (pools, parks, hike/bike trails, even fucking SIDEWALKS or streetlights). You might be much more likely to consider it unsafe for your kids to play outside and/or be dealing with work schedules and/or lack of adult supervision during key “outside play” hours.
Diet. DUH! The cheap availability of crap and the increasing serving sizes of said crap. Not just quantity but quality; the idea that there is NO difference between 1,000 calories of, say, brown rice, steamed vegetables, and lean protein and 1,000 calories of soda pop and greasy, refined crust pizza is bullshit. The body reacts very differently to the sugars in say, fresh squeezed orange juice and those in say, a Coke.
Technology. Yep, we watch a lot of tv, spend a lot of time on the computer, playing video games, etc…all of which is time not spent MOVING in any significant way. We are a species which evolved walking, running, hunting, gathering, climbing, etc…for most of our waking hours. We now mostly walk to and from the car or the couch/chair.
My own kids tend towards leanness, both due to genetics and diet/lifestyle factors (their father was very tall and lean and they take after him, they’ve always eaten a vegetarian, mostly whole-foods diet with very little “junk/fast food”, AND they tend to be fairly active.)
Last summer, a friend who was visiting with her 3 FAT (great kids, but chunky monkeys to a one, and they eat the WORST crap and spend most of their time in front of the tv/video console) kids to swim commented on how “skinny” my daughter (then 10) was. She said, “Does she EAT?” and generally acted as if the poor thing were malnourished/starving.
My daughter is perfectly healthy, no bones sticking out except where they SHOULD be somewhat visible, and eats more or less constantly. She also happens to eat mostly decent food and spend most of her time OUTSIDE running, biking, climbing, and swimming in decent weather, anyway. Why she looks so kick-ass/all muscle in a bathing suit. 
It really struck me that there is a “new normal” out there, in light of which my perfectly healthy-weight child is seen as “too thin”, when in reality she is, while in the lower percentiles for weight-to-height as she always has been, “normal”. But compared to so many of the other kids out there who are in the upper percentiles or simply OBESE, she looks like a waif. :smack:
I’ve noticed it. I was a kid in the 80s, and I remember a girl being picked on for being fat. If she were in elementary school today, she’d probably be considered normal.
In addition to diet changes and more technology-induced laziness, I wonder if parenting styles have also had an effect. Just comparing the parenting style of my sister with our parents, I’d say my sister is much “nicer” than my parents were to us. Much more attentitive about affirming self-esteem and self-acceptance. I don’t remember my mother really gushing over how beautiful I was (except for maybe when she had me dressed up in some over-the-top Shirley Temple way). My sister, however, is always telling her daughters how smart and beautiful they are. Both are quite ample and don’t seem to be in angst over their weight…which I suppose is a good thing. But if they had grown up under my father’s roof, I could see him yelling at them every time they reached for another handful of chips.
A person once told me that schools no longer have recess. Is this really true? I didn’t spend my recess time running laps or anything, but I do remember ripping around and moving my body. We’d play impromptu kickball games and have pinecone fights and stuff. I remember how sweaty we’d all be when we’d come back inside. We had PE maybe twice or three times a week, but recess was a constant.
On what do you base that conclusion? Considering that most infants in U.S., even if they start out being breastfed, are no longer breastfed at ALL, much less say exclusively, by 9 mths (hell, 3 months)?
Yes, as the article mentions, the phenomenon of infants being “weaned” onto french fries and soda pop is a distressing factor, but…
From the article, " “Exclusive breastfeeding–breastfeeding alone, not breastfeeding combined with bottle-feeding–prevents obesity,” says McCormick. "
No, it’s not JUST breastfeeding or not or JUST any one thing, but breastfeeding has been shown in other studies to be protective against obesity later in life, though there still exists some debate over whether that is due to the more “on demand” nature of the feeding or the composition of the milk itself (I suspect it is both, but that the composition plays a larger role…cow milk, much higher in protein and cholesterol and with a very different mix of nutrients, sweetened with corn syrup solids is NOT the same as human milk, nor is SOY “milk” altered to sustain infants, no matter how you (meaning “one”, not “you” in particular, of course) try to spin it. :dubious:)
It has long been acknowledged that the old growth charts were biased towards formula fed infants, often ranking breastfed infants as “underweight” or “failing to thrive” when, as we know now, breastfed infants grow more slowly and don’t tend to get as “fat” and that bigger/faster is NOT always better.
Sounds like you live in a “better” area. Bully for you. There are some parts of the country where it is almost impossibleto buy healthierfoods. There are some parts of the country where crime is so bad kids aren’t allowed to be running all over the playground. Hell, there are parts of the country where there AREN’T playgrounds.
The irony of a population in which the RICH are thin and the POOR are fat has been frequently noted. I’m doing so again.
It makes perfect sense when you consider which foods are cheapest, most filling, and most readily available to the poor VS the rich/better off and the amenities for exercise available to each.
Quite the reversal from the traditional situation in which the poor ate mostly fresh, whole, minimally processed foods and spent long hours at hard labor while the rich grew fat on rich, processed fare and lethargy.
Exactly. What’s *not *happening, by and large, in the populations with more obese babies, is exclusive breastfeeding. Is it the sole answer? No. But it’s the dietary part of the component in obese babies, which, being unable to play video games or run outside, suggests strongly to me that it’s the main, if not only, component in infant obesity. And if I had my way, the doctor wouldn’t have said that breastfeeding prevents obesity, but that feeding babies formula (not to mention french fries) *creates *obesity. But that’s another rant for another thread. Sorry if my wording was confusing, but I meant exactly what you said.
Age 'em up a few years and diet is still playing a significant role. Cutting out the video games and sending kids outside to play is important, but attending to diet is, as well. Not “put the kids *on *a diet”, but feed them healthier stuff.