Infants are increasingly overweight, even obese
14
August
A study, titled “Trends in Overweight from 1980 through 2001 among Preschool-Aged Children Enrolled in a Health Maintenance Organization” (read the Abstract) published in the July 2006 issue of Obesity (yes, they have a journal called Obesity!) concludes that children today, including infants,are more likely to be overweight than they were in the early 1980s.
The authors of the study say that the findings are especially worrisome because sudden spurts of weight increase in infancy are very predictable indicators of high blood pressure and weight problems in later life. Whether a baby was overweight was determined mostly by change in weight over those first crucial months - especially weight gain out of proportion with length. This is one of the reasons most doctors look for a synchronized proportion of increase in height and weight during early stages to ensure normal growth and wellness.
Dr. Matthew Gillman, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and his team looked at medical records of more than 120,000 children who visited doctors from 1980-2001. All were enrolled in a health maintenance organization that used an electronic medical record system and most came from middle-class families.
-Via Washington Post
According to the study, over the 22-year study period, the observed prevalence of overweight increased from 6.3% to 10.0% and at-risk-for-overweight increased from 11.1% to 14.4%. What is scarier is that these increases were evident among all groups of children including infants who were less than 6 months of age.
While it is certainly true that fat is extremely important in the diet of children under the age of 2 to help in brain development, it is also important to slowly but surely wean them away from an affinity to, and a dependence on, it. Also dietary fat inclusion does not mean stuffing them until they can hardly move! The Perdiatric Clinic at the Health Science Center of The University of North Texas has a page full of great tips on the importance of sound nutrition habits in young children.
Here is just a small sample:
- At one year of age, children should be switched to whole milk; at two years they should be started on 2%, 1% or skim milk.
- Avoid overfeeding. Stop feeding when baby turns away from food or shows disinterest. While parents are the best judges of when and what infants and children should eat, the child is the best judge of how much to eat.
- Offer an adequate amount of a variety of healthful and tasty foods. In the long term, the child will choose a nutritionally adequate diet.
- Serve small portions; large quantities may frustrate the appetite. If more is desired, additional servings may be offered. Children develop desirable feeding patterns when they feel successful and when negative behavior is ignored.
- Between-meal snacks should be given midway between meals and offered in small quantities. Juice, fruit or crackers are a good choice. Foods with high sugar and/or fat content, e.g., candy, cake, cookies or milk, may interfere with the appetite at the next meal.
Read the full article
A lifetime of healthy eating habits begins at the cradle. Parents can shape the future of the next generation in more ways than they ever imagined, beginning in the kitchen.
Technorati Tags: health, fitness, nutrition, infant, children, obesity
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