Is your child or a child you care about struggling with weight related issues?

Don’t feel alone.  It is estimated that up to 30% of children in the United States, Canada and Australia are overweight or obese.  You’ve seen it on television, in magazines, and on the internet.  You see it every day.  Childhood obesity is the number one concern for our children today.  So what is childhood obesity and what can we do to prevent it?    

Although the definition of obesity and overweight has changed over time, obesity traditionally has been defined as a weight at least 20% above the weight corresponding to the ideal weight for individuals of a specific height, gender, and age. Twenty to forty percent over ideal weight is considered mildly obese; 40–100% over ideal weight is considered moderately obese; and 100% over ideal weight is considered severely, or morbidly, obese. More recent guidelines use a measurement called BMI (body mass index) which is the individual’s weight multiplied by 703 and then divided by twice the height in inches. BMI of 25.9–29 is considered overweight; BMI over 30 is considered obese.  Additionally, some researchers classify children as overweight if their percentage of body fat was at least 25% and 30%, respectively, for males and females. (more…)

As we gather weapons and allies to do battle on behalf of our children (and possibly ourselves?), we also need to know as much as possible about the enemy. Childhood Obesity.

This is the beginning of our intelligence gathering. We will identifying 10 areas you may not be aware of that can either help or hinder your cause. Starting before birth!

1. We all know that cigarettes increase the risk of low birth weight, and alcohol can damage an unborn baby’s brain. So is it logical to assume that unhealthy foods also could have negative effects on a baby? A growing number of studies suggest that sugary and fatty foods, consumed even before birth, can have an affect on how babies develop after birth.     

Studies on mice, conducted by Pennington Biomedical Research Center, reported that overweight female mice had higher levels of glucose and free fatty acids floating around in the womb than normal-weight ones did. Researchers believe these molecules trigger the release of proteins that can upset the appetite-control and metabolic systems in the developing brain. (more…)

5. The age old question of what came first the chicken or the egg also seem to apply to stress and weight gain.  When examining the relationship between childhood obesity and stress, the question is whether the weight gain causes stress or the stress causes the weight gain.  While there may not be a clear answer as to which is responsible for the other, it does seem to be cyclical with both factors compounding each other.

While the stresses of life are usually assigned to adults, ( finances, work, relationships, etc.) children and teens certainly have their share of “the blues”( who likes who, am I wearing the right clothes, am I one of the cool kids).  Recent research from Iowa State University has identified stress factors in adolescents that appear to have a direct relationship to obesity.  Such things as having poor grades, mental health problems, more aggressive behavior, or doing more drugs and alcohol all lead to a child being more likely to have weight related issues. 

Everyone with a television has probably seen the commercials connecting the stress hormone Cortisol and weight gain.  Cortisol is a steroid hormone that helps the body respond to stress but also has other functions, including converting fat, protein and carbohydrates into energy. Stress hormones also ramp up fat storage.  In ancient times of possible feast or famine or attack by a saber tooth tiger, this storage of extra energy could be a good thing.  In most countries today, stress is handled sitting down and the excess calories go un-used.  Normally, levels of this hormone peak in the morning and slowly decrease to a low point in the evening.  However, Cortisol levels in stressed individuals were slightly elevated in the evening as well.  To make matters worse, stress hormones trigger cravings for carbohydrate-rich foods that seem to calm the stress hormones.  One study showed that when researchers withheld high carb foods from stressed mice, their stress hormones spiked.  And the cycle continues. (more…)