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Overeating in children and teens leads to overweight and obesity which quickly leads to serious medical conditions. It occurs when a child is well above the normal weight for his or her age, sex and height. Childhood obesity is particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start kids on the path to health problems that were once confined to adults, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, strokes and cancer.
Overweight Children Dramatically Increase Their Risk for Heart Disease:
60% of overweight children have at least one risk factor for heart disease. The famous Bogalusa Heart Study (Bogalusa is a small rural southern town) followed more than 9000 children from 1973 to 2001 and found:
- 77% of children that were obese in the early 1970's became obese adults.
- 87% of children who were obese at age 6 or younger became obese adults.
- 87% of children who were obese at age 6 or younger became obese adults.
There was a direct relationship between childhood obesity and the build of plaques (a build up of fat and white cells) on the inside of artery walls scattered throughout the body. Dr Geetha Raghueveer, from the University of Missouri, found numerous signs of aging in obese young children and teens including:
- Artery walls of obese children as thick as the artery walls in the average 45-year-old.
- A Life expectancy decreased by two to five years.
- One third of obese children have fatty liver
- Increased risk of diabetes:
Childhood Obesity and Diabetes:
Obesity in childhood can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in both childhood and adulthood. A study from the University of Michigan found that more than 229,000 children approximately 3.2 cases for every 1,000 American children under the age of 18 currently have diabetes and one-third of those children are obese. The study found that children ages 6 to 17 who were obese were more than twice as likely to have diabetes as children of the same age who were of normal weight.
Metabolic Syndrome and Blood Lipids Disorders in Children
In 1988, Dr Reaven described "the metabolic syndrome" as a link between insulin resistance and hypertension, abnormal blood lipids, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic abnormalities associated with an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular events.
The 3rd report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel defined the criteria for the metabolic syndrome.
These include meeting three or more of the five following criteria:
- BMI > 97%-age and gender adjusted
- triglyceride > 95th percentile,
- blood pressure, 95th percentile,
- HDL cholesterol below the 5th percentile and
- impaired glucose tolerance.
What needs to be done:
The first barrier to changing the eating habits of a child or teen who is overeating is to recognize that there is a problem. When you see a 6 or 7 year old finish a whole plate of food in minutes and then look for more, it's no so hard to decide if there is an eating issue. If it's less subtle, you can need to look up the BMI-for-age table and compare your child's weight with what is normal of his age and gender.
If he is overweight, than more often than not all you need to do is to slow down the weight gain, so that in a year or two he will "catch-up" with what is normal. The average child from 6 to 16 gains almost 10 lb. a year, so slowing the weight gain from 15 lbs. to 7 or 8lb. is all that may be needed. Obviously if the child is very overweight more vigorous changes are needed.
Richard L. Lipman M.D., a board certified internist and endocrinologist has been treating weight and metabolic problems for 25 years in his Miami office. His recent book, The 100 Calorie Secret, describes how thousands of his patients lost weight and kept it off. Learn more weight loss and tips from a doctor who actually takes care of metabolic problems and obesity problems at [http://www.the100caloriesecret.com].
See the CDC web site for BMI calculator: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/.
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