Kids and Obesity -- A Growing Problem

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WebMD Live Events Transcript
Event Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Kenneth Cooper
Biography


	What can we do to encourage our kids to be more physically active? My son is 11 and weighs 143 lbs. I have him on a low-carb diet but he's not losing weight. What am I doing wrong? I'm not a good eater. I don't eat fruits and veggies. What can I do? Kids get a taste for juice and high-sugar drinks so early in life! What's a parent to do?

	WebMD Special Report: Parenting and Child Obesity Motivating the Overweight Child

Obesity rates in children continue to climb. Eating more and exercising less are the two most commonly mentioned culprits, but what are the best ways to reverse this trend? On May 25 at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT), come discuss managing your child's weight, when to be concerned about health problems, and who to turn to for help with our guest, Kenneth Cooper, MD, founder of the Cooper Clinic.

If you have questions about your health, you should consult your personal physician. This event is meant for informational purposes only.

MODERATOR:
Welcome back to WebMD Live, Dr. Cooper. Please give us an overview of the growing obesity problem in our younger population.

COOPER:
It's estimated that 10% of children, or at least 155 million youngsters, are overweight or obese. It is most severe in the United States, where the prevalence of obese children aged 5 to 17 is about 10% and more than 30% are overweight. Ten percent to 20% of children in Northern Europe have prevalence to being overweight, and once a health problem for the industrialized world, is now spreading to developing countries.

Along with the increase in childhood obesity we're beginning to see an epidemic of adult onset, or type 2, diabetes in children 9 to 12. If that child develops diabetes before they're 14 years of age they are shortening their life span by 17 to 27 years. This has reached such a state that this may be the first generation in which the parents outlive the children.

I believe the reasons for obesity are as follows:

A lack of physical education programs in most schools in America. Only one state has a mandatory K-12 daily requirement for PE, and that's the state of Illinois.
Children are no longer walking to school or riding their bicycles to school; they're being carried to school or they're driving themselves.
Children are spending anywhere from 25 to 35 hours a week watching television, playing video games, or sitting at a computer.
This is the fast-food generation, with an estimated 49 million Americans eating at fast-food restaurants on a daily basis.

So the question is, is my child obese? For adults, we use the body mass index, which is your weight in pounds multiplied by 703, divided by the height and inches squared. In adults, a body mass index of 18 to 25 is normal weight, 25 to 30 is overweight, and above 30 is obese. We now have an estimated 64.5% of adults who are overweight, of which some 31% are obese. Projections are by the year 2010 more than 50% American adults will be considered obese.

With children, we use the same formula for determining body mass index. We consider a child obese if they're above the 95th percentile. That varies in boys 2 years of age to 10 years of age from 19 to 22 BMI. In girls it's a BMI of 19 to 23. From 12 to 20 years of age in boys, it's 24 to 30. For girls, it's from 25 to 31.

"In June 2002 the American Academy of Pediatrics made these recommendations: Two hours is a safe limit for TV; greater than two hours increases the risk for weight gain."

Unfortunately, most adults don't consider their child obese. Studies released from London said that parents are so accustomed to seeing overweight youngsters that many fail to realize when their own children are obese. A third of the mothers and 57% of dads actually saw their obese child as being normal weight. Three-hundred 7-year-old children and their parents were asked about their perception of body size. In one-third of mothers and half of fathers who were either overweight or obese rated themselves "about right." When the child was a normal weight according to the BMI, most of their parents, regardless of their own size, knew there was no problem, but when the child was overweight, only a quarter of the parents knew it, and when the children were obese, 40% of the parents were not concerned about their child's weight.

What can you do to improve the situation in your children? First of all realize that foods of childhood influence lifelong health. Height within the first five years is based on genetics and nutrition. Bone and teeth health is developed by adolescence. Weight, the number and size of fat cells a child has before 6 years of age, are set for life, so a fat child ordinarily becomes a fat adult. Food preferences and eating habits are formed in childhood.

Recommendations:

Cut back on juice and high-sugar drinks.
Active kids are more likely to have healthy weight and less likely to be overweight adults. Bone density developed in a young girl from birth to 25 years of age will determine primarily whether she will have osteoporosis as an adult. Parents should sign up children for teams and activities and make plans so they can be with friends in sports.
No eating while watching TV. In one study TV watchers gained body mass index and waist circumference, and kids who watch less TV ate fewer fatty foods. In June 2002 the American Academy of Pediatrics made these recommendations: Two hours is a safe limit for TV; greater than two hours increases the risk for weight gain. Kids who watch more than three hours of TV had 39% more body fat than kids who averaged nearly two hours.

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The opinions expressed herein are the guests' alone and have not been reviewed by a WebMD physician.