Why are our children obese?

Why is the incidence of obesity among American children growing? This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, Speaking of Health. Is it diet? Or is it lack of exercise? Or is it both?

The obvious answer is “both”, but understanding the contribution of both diet and lack of exercise to childhood obesity might help stem the rising tide. And so a research team, in an article published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, tried to answer that question. They took a group of almost 900 San Diego County, California, adolescents and assessed how they did after a year in a special program designed to help them control their weight through better eating habits and vigorous exercise. And they separated out the contributions of both of these factors to obesity in this group. While they found that dietary factors did contribute somewhat to obesity in this group, “insufficient vigorous physical activity was the (predominant) risk factor for (obesity) for adolescent boys and girls.”

Now, fast food companies can lower calorie and fat counts; and schools can remove colas from their cafes, but it’s harder to convince adolescent boys and girls to go out and routinely exercise vigorously. Rather than just passing laws, some experts suggest passing information from parents to their kids and promoting examples of exercise habits by celebrities and role models. For a copy of this script access of our web site, speakingofhealth.com. Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, for CBS News.

Ref: Patrick, K et al: Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, Apr 2004; 158:385-390.

Wrotniak, BH et al: Ibid. pgs. 342-347

Abstracted in Pediatric Alert. Vol 29, No. 10. May 27, 2004