In a lively radio show debate this afternoon, health experts argued the outcomes of the new initiative to be led by First Lady Michelle Obama . Most agree that this is a good thing and that the CDC generated statistic - 17% of children are obese - is too high. Most also agree with the data that suggests obese children will become obese adults. Add to that overweight children and it is about double.
There is also substantial scientific evidence that being overweight and inactive can lead to chronic disease conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
Unfortunately, I cannot find the show on line to see who was speaking this afternoon and I apologize for not being able to credit everyone. However, an educated guest, perhaps a scientist or physician, stated two things about the current initiative that I wished to comment on. One of the things he said made sense to me, I felt it was true and I understood the rationale. The other - NO , not at all.
The obesity prevention campaign is titled Let's Move and it involves providing healthy foods to our children in school and in their neighborhoods, getting kids moving and active and limiting advertising of unhealthy foods to them.
What the gentleman said that I agree with is this:
The program will not make children thin. And he may be right. If the strategy doesn't involve reducing caloric intake, the kids may indeed be healthier, but not lighter.
He denied however, that being overweight was detrimental and that flies in the face of all the current science we have. In aggregate, being overweight and obese triggers inflammation, insulin resistance and joint problems. If individually an overweight person does not have an adverse outcome, that does not mean that being over weight is not harmful. (Think smoking if you will. If your granddad smoked all his life and did not get lung cancer that does not mean that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer.)
So, I find NO debate there. The caller/guest then said that the problem was not being overweight or obese but that people were stigmatized for it. He felt that calling attention to the fact that 30+% of our kids had a weight problem would only cause them psychological harm. I wanted to tell him and so will tell you - the psychological damage can be avoided, not by changing other peoples perceptions or by denying that obesity causes disease, but by preventing the disease. I would wager a significant bet that an overweight child would MUCH rather be trim and fit, agile and energetic than to be sluggish and uncomfortable and accepted for it.
This doesn't even touch the fact that the children who start with cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes medicine in their teens are going to have quite a lot of blood draws for the rest of their life making sure those meds don't destroy their kidneys before the diseases do.
The most important things that we as a country can do for our children is to 1) educate them, 2) prevent tobacco use and 3) prevent obesity. Ok, let me rephrase, some of the most important things, because they need a lot from us and we better start doing our jobs.
Foot note: A few years ago Bill Clinton became involved with obesity prevention as well. He is a partner with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation program. In his speaking engagements, he has noted that he was an overweight kid and how hard that was. He has also spoken about being overweight as an adult and having to be careful on campaigns and such because of high calorie foods. Today he is in the hospital recuperating from a serious heart surgery, not his first if I remember correctly. And this is WHY we need to follow Mrs. Obama's lead and address obesity head on and full force.
If we do our best to stop the epidemic then the stigma will take care of itself.
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