Are Your Kids Overweight? You're Probably the Last to Know

by Jason Best, Posted Jul 13th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Photo: Getty Images

As the nation works to address the growing epidemic of childhood obesity, including this year's launch of First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign, there may be one big stumbling block on the road to a solution: parents.

A recent study published in the July-August issue of the journal Academic Pediatrics confirmed past reports that a significant number of parents of overweight children do not know that their kids are overweight. When asked whether or not their children were a healthy weight, more than 40 percent of parents of overweight kids said yes.

"Parents don't recognize weight problems or don't know how to make things better," Dr. Eliana Perris, lead author of the study and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Science Daily. "Even if they do, there are often barriers to healthier eating or more activity for these families."

Childhood obesity rates have tripled over the last 30 years, and today, nearly one in three kids is obese. The causes are pretty straightforward: a dramatic spike in calorie consumption (on average we consume 31 percent more calories than 40 years ago) combined with an equally dramatic drop in physical activity (kids spend an average of 7.5 hours per day sitting in front of TVs and computers).

The solution, then, seems simple: cut the calories and ramp up the exercise. But while a number of school districts and even some municipalities, such as San Francisco, have attempted to address the problem by taking steps such as outlawing soda and other sugary drinks from public vending machines, it seems that they are likely to have little impact if the people who are primarily responsible for a child's health and well-being -- parents -- don't see a problem.

Yet there is also some promising news in Perris's study. When parents were made aware of their child's weight problem using easy-to-understand materials and given guidelines on how to tackle it, they showed significant improvement in making healthy changes in their child's diet and lifestyle, such as eating out less, switching to lower-fat milk, serving more fruits and vegetables and reducing the amount of time spent in front of a screen, TV or otherwise.

"This is the first time we've seen a changed perspective from parents," Perris told Science Daily. "We hope that parents who know their children are overweight will be empowered to help them achieve healthier lifestyles that can last a lifetime."

Filed Under: Health & Medical
Tags: lets move, Lets move campaign, LetsMoveCampaign, obesity

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-14-2010 @1:36PM Judy said... The problem that children face is that they are bombarded with hundreds of millions of dollars of ads every year pushing the worst food choices possible. Nothing is worse for anyone to eat than fast food and soda.
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7-14-2010 @2:43PM Christina @ Bon Appetit Beantown said... I think it's important for parents to introduce healthy food early in life. Yes, PB & fluff is easy, but so is hummus & carrots sticks or Quinoa & roasted veggies. If children are not used to pasta from a can or macaroni from a box, they won't miss it and won't crave it. Good habits start early.
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