By the millions, kids keep gaining pounds Families must step in to stop it, experts say
By Nanci Hellmich
USA TODAY
Obesity researchers are alarmed by new government data that show 15% of kids and adolescents, or about 9 million children, are overweight. And overall, 20% to 30% of children in the USA are either overweight or at risk of becoming so. Children who weigh too much are at a greater risk of becoming heavy adults, are more likely to have low self-esteem and have a greater chance of developing health problems such as diabetes, experts in weight control say. ''This is not a red flag; this is the fireworks going off,'' says Keith Ayoob, a pediatric nutritionist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and spokesman for the American Dietetic Association. He says families have to help their children get a handle on the problem before it gets worse. George Blackburn, an obesity researcher at Harvard Medical School, says, ''We only have effective therapy to stop weight gain or get modest weight loss, so we can't let these kids keep gaining.'' For the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers measured the height and weight of 4,722 children from birth to age 19. Children who are overweight are at or above the 95th percentile based on body mass index charts for their age group. Those who are at risk of being overweight are at or above the 85th percentile. Among the findings, reported in today's Journal of the American Medical Association:
* About 15% of 12- to 19-year-olds are overweight now, up from 5% in the late '70s.
* 15% of children ages 6 to 11 are overweight now, up from 7% in the late '70s.
* 10% of 2- to 5-year-olds are overweight now, up from 5% in the late '70s. Some groups are particularly vulnerable to weight gain. For example, 27% of Mexican-American boys ages 6 to 19 are overweight, and 27% of African-Americans girls ages 12 to 19 are overweight. Experts say chubby children pay a huge price for extra pounds. ''Overweight robs kids of their childhood, because it prevents them from doing the same kinds of activities that leaner kids do,'' Ayoob says. ''This leaves them feeling left out and isolated. They may hibernate inside, watching TV and playing video games, which creates a vicious cycle of inactivity.'' Overweight kids are often teased by their peers. ''And it's not just skinny kids doing the teasing. It may be heavy kids teasing the very heavy kids,'' he says. He says parents who want to change kids' eating habits might have to revamp their own eating and buying habits, and family meals have to be a priority. For many children, ''snacking has become a leisure activity,'' Ayoob says. ''They are eating because it's there. Snacking, per se, is fine.'' However, the foods many kids eat aren't delivering much nutritional punch, although they are packing a big punch when it comes to calories, he says. Families' kitchens are often laden with cakes, pies, cookies and a couple of rotten bananas. He recommends reversing that, putting fruit on the counter and having only a few sweet treats around.
But weight problems aren't solved by diet alone. Kids also have to cut back on TV time and become more active, experts say. Melinda Sothern, an exercise physiologist and director of childhood obesity research at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, believes families should spend at least half a day each weekend doing some physical activity together, such as skating or biking. She encourages parents to have their children play and run around for 30 minutes when they come home from school to let off steam. When kids are reading or doing homework, she suggests that they take a three- or four-minute break every half-hour to dance to some music, jump rope or run around. Ayoob says physical activity not only burns calories, but it also helps kids focus on other pleasurable activities besides eating. ''Food should be one of life's pleasures,'' he says, ''but not the only one.''

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