“Young and Overweight:  A new way to gauge if kids are on the way to obesity.”

 

by Pat Wingert

 

Call them the supersize generation.  Kids (6 to 11) are three times as likely to be overweight today as they were 30 years ago.  And the news on adolescents (12 to 17) isn’t much better--the proportion of fat teens has nearly doubled since the early ‘70s.  The reasons are obvious--more couch-potato time spent in front of computer or television screens; less recess and fewer PE classes; an increase in latchkey kids told to stay in after school for safety reasons, and easy access to mountains of cheap candy, junk and fast food.  “When I was a kid, I’d get a Coca-Cola and it would be a little eight-ounce bottle,” said nutritionist Robert Kuczmarski of the National Center for Health Statistics.  “Just look at what kids are drinking today--’supergulps’ or whatever--64 ounces.  That’s a half gallon of soda, with two teaspoons of sugar in every ounce.”

 

Help may be on the way.  Last week, for the first time, the federal government issued a “body mass index” (BMI) for children ages 2 to 20.  The index, which considers a child’s age, weight and height to calculate total body fat, is similar to the one used for years to identify overweight and obese adults.  Gender differences are also considered.  For example, an 8-year-old boy who is 48 inches tall and weighs 67 pounds would earn a BMI score of 20.4--and be considered overweight.  A girl with the same score would not--falling into the lesser category of children “at risk” of being too heavy.  Kuczmarski and other scientists who assembled the index say they hope plotting such numbers on the new BMI chart will become a standard part of children’s annual physicals, and make it much easier for pediatricians and parents to monitor weight gain and determine when pudginess is becoming a problem.

 

The solution for many may be as simple as increasing exercise while reducing fat and sugar.  For others, excessive weight may be the first warning sign of health problems, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.  The long-term hope is to prevent more chubby children from becoming obese adults who are at increased risk for a variety of health problems, including stroke and heart disease.  Currently, more than half of American adults are overweight or obese.  Studies indicate that children who are overweight at 8 years old are likely to become overweight adults.

 

The government also laid out plans to study the effectiveness and safety of two popular--but diametrically opposed--diets: the high-protein, low-carb variety and the low-fat, low-meat ones.  Both announcements came at the first National Nutritional Summit sponsored by Washington in 31 years.  Last time the topic was hunger.  This time, obesity.  That’s food for thought.

 

© 2000 Newsweek, Inc.           

 

Newsweek, June 12, 2000