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FitnessMantra Weekend: Why Children Are Still Overweight Or Obese

08

July

Linkfitnessmantra11:29 pm1 comment

Fitness Mantra del.icio.us page Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

Fat Babies An interesting news item titled “Kids are still obese, despite nutrition education” highlights the growing problem of childhood obesity in spite of major efforts from the government to spread the good word of healthy eating and activity. For example, this year alone the United States Federal Government will spend about $1 billion on nutrition education in the form of food packs, videos, flyers and lessons. But the kids just keep getting bigger …

The biggest hurdle many educators face is the inability to “get across” to young minds whose primary focus seems to be in getting the next sugar fix!

Leticia Jenkins’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.

As always, parents are the number one influence on a child’s diet (hey, parents always get blamed, don’t they!):

“If the mother is eating Cheetos and white bread, the fetus will be born with those taste buds. If the mother is eating carrots and oatmeal the child will be born with those taste buds,” said Dr. Robert Trevino, at the Social and Health Research Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Most kids learn what tastes good and what tastes nasty by their 10th birthdays. “If we don’t reach a child before they get to puberty, it’s going to be very tough, very difficult, to change their eating behavior,” said Trevino.

Read the entire article to figure out why even the best efforts are failing and what might work. and once done, read on for more top health and fitness stories from this past week:

Exercise may help delay inflammation: A study may offer insight into whether regular exercise can fend off the onset of heart disease or diabetes, University of Illinois researchers said.
Black, White Women Differ on Dieting: Overweight or obese white American women are more likely than their black peers to ask for dieting assistance, such as counseling from a medical professional, a doctor’s prescription, membership in a weight-loss group, or advice from a trainer.
Heavy moms who shed pounds still have big babies: Overweight women who lost weight before their second pregnancy did not eliminate their increased odds of having an oversized newborn. This, the study authors speculate, could mean that a woman’s excess pounds have a lasting effect on subsequent pregnancies …
Sandwiches ‘rival crisps on salt’: Pre-packed sandwiches may contain as much salt as several bags of crisps, a study suggests.
Organic food ‘better’ for heart: Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you than conventionally grown crops, US research suggests.
Why kids are still obese: The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on nutrition education - fresh carrot and celery snacks, but a review of dozens of studies shows that these programs almost never change the way kids eat.
Chocolate ‘lowers’ blood pressure: A mouthful of dark chocolate each day could reduce blood pressure, cutting the risk of stroke, research suggests.
Company to Charge ‘Unhealthy’ Workers More for Insurance: Starting in 2009, Clarian will begin charging workers extra for insurance if they let health risks such as smoking, obesity or high cholesterol go unchecked.
Sanofi-Aventis Drops Application for Drug: Sanofi-Aventis withdrew its application to gain federal approval for a weight loss drug on Friday after a meeting at which government advisers rejected the treatment on safety grounds.
Ulcer surgery may help treat obesity: An old ulcer operation is getting new attention as a possible alternative obesity surgery: a quick snip of a nerve that helps control hunger.
Most diets work about the same: Looking for that perfect diet? Researchers have bad news â€” all diets have just about the same result, and none of them are great, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
Weight Loss with Dietary Counseling Fizzles Over Time: Dietary counseling produces modest weight loss, but the effect disappears within about five years, a meta-analysis showed.

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Have a great weekend!

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FitnessMantra Weekend: Exercise Is The Best Medicine

01

July

Linkfitnessmantra10:35 pmAdd comment

In the highly-encouraging-news-item-of-the-week category, children playing football soccer rugby chalk down this little gem: doctors could soon write out prescriptions to patients that read like their gym class schedules.

In Rx: Get Active, one of my favorite columnists, Sally Squires of the Washington Post writes that doctors from two large and influential medical groups: The American College of Sports Medicine and The American Medical Association are trying to encourage doctors to literally “prescribe fitness” by encouraging their patients to exercise regularly.

More than half of Americans fail to get the 30 minutes of physical activity recommended daily to provide health benefits, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cars, elevators, remote controls and other modern devices all help to engineer physical activity out of daily life. Extended work days and long commutes add to the problem.

Sedentary Death Syndrome? Well that’s a new term doctors have come up with to describe the life-threatening effect of leading highly inactive lives. Did you also know that by some estimates close to 250000 lives are annually affected by this problem? Or that, on average, a sedentary person spends $1500 more than his active counterpart?

It’s absolutely no wonder, then, that Dr. Robert Sallis, a California physician who recently became president of the American College of Sports Medicine, says:

“Exercise is medicine. We know that it works very well. We just don’t have the proper way to administer it.”

While you get a refill on your prescription to get active today, read some of the week’s top health and fitness stories:

Way to Shrink, Grow Fat Is Found: Scientists reported yesterday that they have uncovered a biological switch by which stress can promote obesity
Exercise Stimulates The Formation Of New Brain Cells: Experiment studies show both exercise and antidepressants increase the formation of new cells in an area of the brain that is important to memory and learning.
Late starters can live longer if they get moving: Even in middle age, adopting a healthy lifestyle can lower the risk for heart disease and premature death within years of changing habits, researchers reported on Thursday.
Pill to make dieters ‘feel full’: Italian scientists have developed a pill that expands in the stomach to make dieters feel full. They liken the effect to eating a bowl of spaghetti and say the pill can stop hunger for a few hours.
Superfood ‘ban’ comes into effect: Products claiming to be superfoods will be banned under new EU rules coming into effect on Sunday - unless the claim can be proved.
Dietary calcium protects bones better: Which source is better: calcium-rich foods or supplements? A preliminary study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine suggests dietary calcium may be better at protecting bone health.
Vitamin C ‘benefits diabetics’: Vitamin C could help reduce some of the complications associated with diabetes, research suggests.
Obesity to fuel Alzheimer’s rise: Rising rates of obesity will lead to dramatic increases in the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease, experts have predicted.
The myth of the weekend warrior: The new findings may just be one more sign that we really are a nation of slugs.
No trans fats? No problem for NYC: Across the city, most fast food chains say they’ve already made the switch days before the July 1 deadline, which is Sunday.
Spike in kids’ health issues foretells problems: More time in front of the television and use of other electronic media, decreased physical activity, increased time spent indoors, increased consumption of fast foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, and changes in parenting are all likely to blame
U.S. Diabetes Rate Soars: The U.S. diabetes epidemic is picking up speed like a “runaway train,” the CDC says
Sugary Drinks Fattening Up Preschoolers: Canadian researchers found that 2- to 4-year-olds who regularly drank sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks and fruit drinks between meals were more than twice as likely to be overweight at age 4 1/2, compared to kids who didn’t drink these bevera
Americans doing better managing diabetes: Americans appear to be doing a better job of managing diabetes, with more than half of diabetics reaching recommended targets for controlling blood sugar last year
Whole grains may help heart: Eating plenty of whole grains can help keep your arteries healthy, potentially warding off heart disease and stroke, a new study shows.
Soy to boost bone density?: Italian researchers found that a combination of genistein, calcium and vitamin D helped protect postmenopausal women’s bone density better than calcium and vitamin D alone.
FDA urged to review sweetener’s safety: Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame, widely used in soft drinks, might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats.
Rx: Get Active: “We’re trying to get every physician to prescribe exercise at every visit.”
Plate aids diabetes weight loss: Using a simple portion control dinner plate can help people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and decrease reliance on medication, research shows.
American Kids Shaping Up With Trainers: With many high school students not getting exercise at school unless they play a sport, more parents are turning to trainers to help their children stay fit
Can Shots Safely ‘Melt Away Fat’?: A growing number of doctors, nurses and even spa personnel are offering the procedure known in medical circles as injection lipolysis — and more colloquially as the “flab jab.”