Dr. Sinatra's HeartMD Institute

Too Much Body Fat Sets Children Up for Health Problems

Stephen Sinatra
childhood obesity

Frequently, after a lecture to seniors, people in the audience approach me to express concerns about young grandchildren with weight problems. Can I give them any advice? Each worries about his or her grandchild becoming another statistic in the alarming rise of childhood obesity.

Alarming indeed.

Statistically Speaking…

Over the last three decades, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incidence of obesity has more than doubled. Among adolescents, it has more than quadrupled. As of 2012, an estimated 18 percent of 6-11 year olds are believed to be obese, up from 7 percent in 1980. For adolescents, an estimated 21 percent, up from 5 percent. Overall, more than a third of youngsters are now either overweight or obese.

Overweight means too much body weight for a particular height. The excess weight can be fat, muscle, bones, and even bodily fluid, or a combination. Obesity, by comparison, refers basically to too much fat. The statistics are frightening because of the consequences of excess weight.

Physical Consequences of Excess Weight

And long-term issues:

These are very serious risks. Weight has become a major driver of growing poor health, not just in the U.S. but throughout the world as well. In some parts of Africa, in fact, overweight has replaced malnutrition. The burden on healthcare keeps growing as does the collective weight of the population, including the kids. I’ve read that that today’s kids may be the first generation to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents!

The Reasons

Why such a mess? You don’t have to look far for the answers. Basically, they are symptoms of entire populations increasingly out of sync with nature and common sense. It’s all about basics, and primarily two factors – an unnatural diet and physical inactivity:  

  1. Kids eat too much added sugar and refined carbohydrates. That means too many calories from processed foods including sodas, sweets, and cakes, cookies, bread, bagels, and pizza made with white flour. Today’s standard diet is loaded with excess sweets and refined carbohydrates, generating inflammation in the body and weight gain, pushing kids into diabetes at an unprecedented early age, and setting them up for premature heart disease and early death.
  2. Many kids fail to get enough exercise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 2013 survey of high school students found that only 27 percent had participated in at least 60 minutes per day of physical activity on all 7 days before the survey, and only 29 percent attended physical education class daily. Kids today spend an extraordinary amount of time inactive, playing video games and watching television, just “hanging out,” and becoming couch potatoes. The sedentary habit takes a firm hold early and typically doesn’t let go, leading to sedentary adults. Regular physical activity means so much in childhood and adolescence: improved strength and endurance, healthy bones and muscles, less anxiety and stress, increased self-esteem, and better weight control. Lack of activity, just like poor diet, contributes to overweight and obesity, and similarly increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, cancer, and the risk of dying prematurely.    

Unless kids are put on the right track, and at an early age, human suffering will expand and extend over many decades, placing a massive burden on economies and healthcare. The major benefactor from such prolonged misery will be the pharmaceutical industry serving up drugs, first for juvenile patients who then become adult patients. Decades of sales! Good maybe for the corporate bottom line, but not for the common good. It’s a troubling prospect.

What Can YOU Do?

In my opinion, we need less healthcare, less drugs, and more self-care. We need parents, and grandparents as well, to educate themselves as to the importance of food and exercise in basic human health so that they can influence their offspring and lead them in a healthier direction. It is about people taking responsibility and teaching a lifestyle that prevents health problems instead of creating them. As a doctor, I can tell you that prevention is always easier than cure.

Here are some practical tips for parents and grandparents alike:

References:

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