Archive for September, 2006
Many children are becoming so obese, their life expectancy will not exceed their parents lives. There are so many contributors to this problem, but the FCC is going to investigate how TV ads affect children’s eating habits. The AP ( link ) has stated, “Concerned that a steady diet of TV ads is putting too many pounds on American children, The Federal Communications Commission plans to study links between the ads, viewing habits and the rise of childhood obesity.“
So, some of you are skeptical this will never happen? Many years ago, when I was young, there used to be commercials on TV portraying cigarette smoking as so glamorous and cool. How many cigarette commercials do you see now on the tube. “Small children can’t weed out the marketing messages from their favorite shows,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Wednesday at a news conference. “Especially when the marketing campaigns feature favorite TV characters like SpongeBob or Scooby-Doo.”
The article went on to say children watch 2-4 hours of TV per week, which equals to about 40,000 ads per year. Think about the influence that will have on a child who sees the same yummy cookie or sugar cereal over and over again. “Earlier this month, the Institute of Medicine found that one-third of American children are either obese or at risk for becoming obese. At the same time, American companies spend about $15 billion a year marketing and advertising to children under age 12.”
September 29th, 2006
by Len Saunders
USA Today ( link ) is reporting that children’s obesity is now a ‘modern day epidemic.’ “About 15.6% of American children between 12 and 19 were obese in 2002, up from 6.1% in 1974, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” This is a significant increase over a short period of time. The environment plays a key role in this as children are becoming more sedentary, participating in a modern day era of technology. Parents, take note of these reports! You may be to blame. Don’t ignore the statistics being thrown around these days, including the rise in Type 2 diabetes, which used to be prevalent only in adults. Now, children are experiencing it. Is ‘modern day epidemic’ strong? Probably yes, but this problem is not going away too quickly.
September 24th, 2006
by Len Saunders
Childhood obesity is still on the rise, becoming a tremendous health risk among youth. An article ( link ) by the Associated Press states “One in five children is predicted to be obese by the end of the decade.” The main cause is probably unknown, but the environment plays into it. Children are just not playing outside as much or eating properly due to less adult supervision and education. The parents need to assume responsibility in this fight to make our children healthy.
One of the most heavily funded campaigns to fight childhood obesity has just been cut. “… the government’s VERB campaign, a program once touted as spurring a 30 percent increase in exercise among the preteens it reached. It ended this year with Bush administration budget cuts. VERB encouraged 9- to 13-year-olds to take part in physical activities, like bike riding or skateboarding. Slick ads, at a cost of $59 million last year, portrayed exercise as cool at an age when outdoor play typically winds down and adolescent slothfulness sets in.”
Now, it seems like childhood obesity programs needs to take place at the local level. Cities and towns around the world need to step up to the plate and take a leadership role in this fight. If not, the number of obese children will keep on rising. “Some 17 percent of U.S. youngsters already are obese, and millions more are overweight. Obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, sleep problems and other disorders.”
September 14th, 2006
by Len Saunders
Many parents are concerned about the amounts of junk food their children inhale away from the home and away from their supervision. Many schools are experimenting with various techniques to try and control this ‘growing’ problem. The Stamford Times ( link ) is reporting, “For the first time since the Civil War, life expectancy of Americans is likely to decrease. Why? More people are obese, and obesity is linked with several diseases, including diabetes, heart and blood vessel disease, and colon cancer.” This quote should alarm many parents concerned about their children’s diet.
Snip….All kinds of tactics are being used to reverse the trend. The American Medical Association recently recommended a comprehensive analysis on the effect of a tax on unhealthy drinks. Bravo! At the University of Virginia Medical Center, we already have shown that a “tax” along with education works.
We introduced healthier snacks to vending machines and healthier choices to cafeteria selections. We didn’t do away with the junk food, but we did educate our employees and the other primary users of our vending machines: our patients and their families.
For the vending machine program, we color-coded different snacks in vending machines. Items with more than 40 percent fat and 200 calories were coded with a red sticker, items with 35-40 percent fat and 140-200 calories were coded yellow and items with less than 5 percent fat and 140 calories were coded green.
Baked chips and trail mix are examples of green items. Colorful educational posters next to the machines explained the program and the preferred choices for healthier eating. We added a 5-cent surcharge to the red items.
Results from the first year of sales showed sales of the red items went down 5 percent; the yellow went up 30 percent and the green items went up 15 percent.
Overall sales increased by 4.5 percent. We collected over $7,000 in nickels that were contributed to the Children’s Fitness Center. This was a “triple win”: Consumers are eating healthier food, the vending machine companies are selling more product, and the Fitness Center started a new exercise program….Snip
Only time will tell if this will have an impact on the youth of the world. It is a start, but more needs to be done. Getting children more physical education in the schools, as well as making time to exercise at home in conjunction with a healthy diet could start to expand the life expectancy of Americans again.
September 7th, 2006
by Len Saunders