PANORAMA CITY, Calif., July 5, 2007
The Losing Fight Against Childhood Obesity
Studies Show Government's Attempts To Curb Unhealthy Eating Habits Falling On Deaf Ears
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Leticia Jenkins instructs students about a healthy diet during her nutrition class at Vista Middle School in the Panorama City section of Los Angeles. Jenkins says despite her best efforts, "we still see them across the street picking up the doughnuts and the coffee drinks." (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
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But an Associated Press review of dozens of rigorous scientific studies shows that these programs almost never change the way kids eat. And there is no indication they will make a dent in the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.
"Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working," said Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition.
The evidence is in the children. Nationally, obesity rates have nearly quintupled among 6- to 11-year-olds and tripled among teens and children ages 2 to 5 since the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The medical consequences of obesity in the U.S. — diabetes, high blood pressure, even orthopedic problems — cost an estimated $100 billion a year. Kentucky cardiologist Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., nominated as the next surgeon general, says fighting childhood obesity is his top priority.
Thus far, the federal government had put its money on education as the solution. But a review of 57 trials aimed at changing kids' eating habits found just four showed any real success.
That reinforced a slew of disappointing studies:
The studies don't tell Leticia Jenkins anything she doesn't know. She's one of the bravest teachers in America — not because she gave her seventh and eighth graders 30 sharp knives to chop tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and limes for a lesson on salsa and nutrition, but because she understands the futility of what she is trying to do.
"Oh, it's so hard, because at the end of the day sometimes I take a moment, I think gosh, I did all this and we still see them across the street picking up the doughnuts and the coffee drinks," she said.
The challenges to changing the way children eat are as numerous as the factors that have prompted the obesity epidemic in the first place.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 17 Comments
- how can an overweight parent tell their kid don't eat so much of that? just wonderin...
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- Thank God all those smokers have been removed from Bars and stuff. All this wonderful clean air that has resulted have made the kiddies sooo healthy.
I agree, tax fast food at the same rate as Cigs....including carryout orders. - Reply to this comment
- We are a nation of addicts. What's worse is we are also a nation of hypocrites. We are addicted to refined sugar, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, narcotics (prescribed and not), excess, shopping, Jesus, and chemically enhanced fast food. When we aren't feeding our particular addiction, we prefer to sit around and bad mouth everyone else's addictions.
Most of all, we are addicted to TV. If you watch US television, you are brainwashed. Fat kids are raised in front of a TV. They are told what is good to eat from birth by advertisers not their mother. Bright colors and LOTS of sugar get them hooked, not to mention the toys and "Happy" meals. Parents today are 2nd and 3rd generation sugar addicts and don't see any problem with a 5 year old weighing 75lbs because that's what they weighed at 5. - Reply to this comment
- I think that we as a society need to adopt the mentality of LESS is MORE & EVERYTHING in MODERATION!! We also need to get rid of SUPERSIZE everything! You know people come here from other countries and are amazed at how big our portions are, no other country eats so much in one sitting, that's why we are the fattest nation in the world.
We also need to take the video & computer games out of our kids hands and tell them to go outside and do SOMETHING- ride a bike, go swimming, go swing at the park do something to get your heart moving and that is not going to happen sitting on the couch.
We do need to keep in mind as parents that our children are imitating our sedementary lifestyles so if we expect them to be healthy by eating good food and exercising than we need to practice what we preach!! - Reply to this comment
- Here's a thought. The world sucks, so kids can't play outside anymore. So to keep them happy inside while we are busy doing chores and that stuff we buy them video games and computers. Then we just want to relax, so while we are relaxing the kids sit in the house more. Then they eat more. Parents, the only solution to this is to get off our butts and go outside with the kids. Get your lawn chair and pay the bills outside. Trade the games in for bikes and other outside toys.
Also, STOP buying junkfood. YES it is that simple.
Criticize all of us soccer moms all you like, but we are the ones who take an active role in our kids' lives, and yes we stop at McDonald's on the way home sometimes, and there's always a bag of oreos around our homes somewhere. The difference is all in the effort you make as a parent, PERIOD. By the way, I have no help running my kids and the neighbor kids to a million activities every week. I am in school full time, and have a toddler, and live on a limited budget. I do these things all by myself because I care about the physical and mental health of my kids. Do the kids a favor and drop the lame excuses, and get off your butt. - Reply to this comment
- Shrtstrwbrry- Nobody said anything about curves being bad on a woman...we're talking about obese people. There's a time when curves become rolls. If you can grab a handful of fat at your midsection, you're probably obese, and need to stop describing yourself as "natural" or "a lot of woman" or whatever. If this fits your case, you need to lose weight. Here is the easy/fast/cheap way to lose weight: whatever you are eating, eat a lot less of it. Period. There's your answer.
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- There are solutions. TAX junk food the same way we tax alcohol and cigarettes. Take junk food out of school cafeterias. Teach parents how to cook. My wife and I have always been adamant about what our kids (now 20 & 22)eat. They now have great eating habits. No McDonalds, they won't even eat that trash. Meals at home and if we go out, we eat good food. Occasionally we slip but it is rare. It is incumbant on the parents to enforce good eating habits early. Once ADDICTED to fast, fat food, the battle is lost.
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- I think that to say it is bad for a woman to have curves just puts that much pressure on teens to be the model type person. I agree that to many curves poses helth problems and so forth but to say that they should not embrace their bodies is something else altogether.
If we want to change society start with the parents. TEACH them. Give them nutrition classes. I tend to eat unhealthy, but what I was taught from my parents and their family is not healthy meals. 9 out of 10 times if it is quick it is unhealthy. I was taught you should always have Meat (good red meat is best) and potatoes. Alot of the family recepies are unhelathy also. You do not find nutrition classes for adults who would like to change but tend to fall back into the unhealthy way we were taught. I am tring to change but it is more difficult for me not to revert back to the meat and potatoes kind of dinners.
Give us single parents easy, fast cheap alternatives to use and tell us the right way to get into the healthy lifestyles and most of us are willing to learn. It cost money to have a gym membership, it cost money to see a nutritionist, and to do these things we have to find sitters and so forth help us help ourselves intead of blaming anyone and everyone. - Reply to this comment
- matisyahu3, donteplays, mswolfestock, justfacts2 ~~
To all: I think we are all on the right track, but what can we do differently? The other night, there was a program about 6 boys (all overweight) being educated about how to get out of their problem. Each of the children could hardly speak while stuffing their mouths. One mom said popcorn was a healthy snack, then mentioned that she puts 2 sticks of melted butter on it. There is the self-esteem question, but there is the actual health aspect too. Mom doesn't have to put 2 sticks of butter on a bowl of popcorn, and popcorn is not an economic question - it's really cheap!
My children are grown and gone, but I can say that it wasn't until my 350 lb son-in-law dropped dead of a pulmonary embolism that my daughter started eating right. Prior to that, they ate out all the time. In fact, the night before he died, they went out for Mexican Food. Now, she eats salads and makes crockpot dishes waiting for when she gets home from work. I guess something has to scare us half to death before we take action! - Reply to this comment
- This gets resolved by parents actually being parents. How many obese children are usually gathered around their obese parents? The amount of money the government spends on healthy eating is dwarfed by the money McDonalds, etc. spend to get them to eat unhealthy. You would need to go back to the 50s to get Mom to home cook meals - they are out in the work force just trying to create, maintain, and/or supplement the family lifestyle.
Good eating habits, exercise, sports, healthy lifestyle all come from the parents. A little unhealthy food won't kill anyone; it is only when it becomes the dietary staple that the real problems begin. - Reply to this comment
- Extremes in anything are not good. It is just as unhealthy to be extremely underweight as it is to be overweight.
I don't think anyone is claiming that 300 pounds is healthy or something to be proud of.
I do, however, believe that there is nothing wrong with being happy with oneself at a realistic weight even if one does not fit the heavily airbrushed and starving models shown in our magazines, television shows, movies, etc.
Having said all that, parents should pay more attention to the eating habits of their children. BOTH parents.
IMHO, I also don't believe that this can all be written off as the parents being too lazy. - Reply to this comment
- I see nobody has failed to mention the school's cafeteria food. I agree that parents are to blame because they put themselves before their kids anymore, but depending on the schools to feed our kids is wrong also. I remember my mom packing my lunch for me and I ate healthier than what I would have received from the school cafeteria. Something needs to be done about that also. I never had vending machines when I went to school and why should these kids? If I was thirsty, I either had milk to drink at lunch or I got a drink from the water fountain. Did you know that elementary schools have cut recess from their programs? Did you know that in high schools and some middle schools P.E. is optional? That is the other problem too! They don't get any exercise at home and they sure as heck don't get any exercise while at school.
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- barbara- I read the article. I started by mentioning that parents are the first step in curbing unhealthy eating, however with today's new parents, they are to believe that they can good as big as they want because they're a natural woman and "bigger is better".
The article is correct when it says that poorer families do not eat as healthy as they should, onyl because it's cheaper to do so. But at what point do you point the finger in every direction? You can point to the government (personally I don't think they should have to, it's peoples bodies and health), you have the parents feeding the foods to kids, the corporations that aren't doing their part in creating healthier choices. Start from the bottom and tell the parents that they need to exercise and show their own children how to fight obesity. No more natural bodies and baby fat.
BEING HAPPY THAT YOU'RE OVERWEIGHT IS BEING LOOKED AT AS SOMEONE HAVING SELF-ESTEEM. YOU'RE KILLING YOURSELF, SHOW SOME SADNESS AND CHANGE. - Reply to this comment
- While it's one thing for anybody to "feel good about [their] body," it's another thing altogether for a 300 pound person to be in denial about how gross, disgusting, and un-healthy they are. We are teaching today's children how to be food-aholics, and it's a shame that intervention comes too late or not at all. Maybe the tough love approach is all that's left - tell all these kids and parents that being fat is gross and disgusting AND they'll all die too soon. I watched my diabetic grandmother commit suicide (slowly) with food. She had to have her leg amputated above the knee but it was too late, she died anyway after spending her life pigging out and ignoring everybody's warnings. Go ahead, eat doughnuts and Cheetos until they come out your ears, but don't expect me to feel sorry for you, don't expect me to be thrilled about paying for your Medicare and Medicaid. I'm busy growing my own vegetables, getting exercise, and eating salad while you are eating that nasty trash at McDonalds. Don't expect any of us healthy types to feel sorry for you, you have nobody to blame but yourselves.
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- "I fear that what we're going to see is a divergence of healthy people and unhealthy people. Basically, like everything else, it costs money to be healthy." Dr. Philip Zeitler
Unfortunately, it costs even more money to be unhealthy.
matisyahu3, I don't think you read the article. This isn't about women being women, which I support. It's about teaching children the skills they need to be healthy, active adults.
I suspect that as a society, we eat out too much and take advantage of convenience foods. When mom cooked dinner (from scratch) and everyone sat down and ate (without cell phones and TV)and the kids went out to play in the yard after dinner, we didn't have this problem. Exercise and healthy food - that's the key.
We no longer know how to do it right. We only know how to expedite the simple pleasures of our lives so we can hurry on to the next experience. - Reply to this comment
- i so do agree with you matisyahu3, because as soon as I began reading I thought to myself instead of going to the kids, these instructors should go to the homes and talk to the too lazy to do anything parents...and there is such a thing as too much junk in the trunk lol...its good to be o'natural, but ooo'natural is just plain unhealthy
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- That's because the parents are the problem. The problem today is that a person, usually it's a woman, should feel proud about being a "real" woman with curves and all that ***.
Yes, a woman should feel good about her body but not when she is promoting an unhealthy lifestyle and something that she can change and do naturally. Being comfortable about yourself means that you appreciate and comfort what you are born with, babies are not born overweight and obese.
So stop all this *** about being a real woman and being proud about your size and curves because you won't have very long to live with all of those curves. - Reply to this comment
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