Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
HAMILTON, Ohio -- Even though the word is out that more children consume more calories than they burn, still the epidemic continues.
"We have an obesity epidemic. One out of five children are obese," said Dan Remley, consumer and family science and community development educator for The Ohio State University Extension Office for Butler County. "The problem with obesity is not cosmetic but a health issue."
Childhood obesity can plague children as young as 3 years old.
The cause of obesity often is attributed to genes, heredity, environment and behavior. While some contributing factors cannot be changed, experts say children can adjust their attitudes to eating healthy and become physically active with the help of their parents.
"Prevention is the best intervention. That's where parents can develop a family routine by limiting TV time. The average child gets about six hours of TV including video games and being on the computer," said Shelly Frank, clinical dietitian with the HealthWorks! program and the Comprehensive Weight Management Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
"It's a complicated picture of environment and behavior. I do think there's an overall message of kids being inundated with commercials that parents may or may not know about."
According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention Control, an estimated 16 percent of children, ages 6 to 19 were overweight in a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 1999 through 2002.
It represented a 45 percent increase from overweight estimates of 11 percent obtained by the survey from 1988 to 1994.
In Greater Cincinnati, 40 percent of children were overweight from a 1999 survey, according to Frank.
The American Obesity Association attributes causes to childhood obesity to:
-- Lack of regular exercise;
-- Sedentary behavior such as frequently watching TV, computer usage and similar behavior that can be used for physical activity;
-- Socioeconomic status or low family incomes and nonworking parents;
-- Eating habits including over consumption of high-calorie foods. Some eating patterns that have been associated with this behavior are eating when not hungry, eating while watching TV or while doing homework;
-- Environment. Overexposure to food advertisements that promote high calories and lack of recreational activities.
For nearly six years, HealthWorks! has offered a weight management program for children. Children, referred by their physician to the program, learn healthy eating behaviors and ways to be physically active. They are screened, monitored and educated by a nurse, dietitian, psychologist and physician. About 200 children, ages 5 to 19, are enrolled in the program.
Remley facilitates the Butler County Healthy Living Coalition to determine incentives to get children and adults to become active.
He's also trained Ross High School students through a program called Student Wellness Activity Teams or SWAT. The purpose is for high school students to educate elementary children to eat healthy and be active.
"This issue is not how long we're going to live but how well we're going to live," Remley said.
Carmen M. Henderson writes for the Hamilton JournalNews. E-mail: chenderson@coxohio.com Editor Notes:
c.2005 Cox News Service
