LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Childhood Obesity

COULD YOUR CHILD’S WILL REALLY BE HELPING?

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I firmly believe that children are made to run like little Energizer bunnies until they crash within the first 5 miles in the car or as soon as you manage to get them to lie their little heads on their pillow.  However, I think that we, as adults, do our best to temper this energy rather than let it run unbridled.

I know my 5 year old would willingly race me to every neck crack in the sidewalk if he had his way.  He is also interested in moving and would trade the chance to go to a “bouncy” place or park over just about anything else.  (the trampoline places will have to wait awhile until he gets over his recent leg fracture…)  But, just like the norm in society today, he does love video games.

Ever since the advent of the active gaming units like the Wii and now the Move and Kinex, the question has been raised about whether this will have an impact on our childrens’ increasing waist to hip ratios..

This particular study looked at changes in body composition over 6 months in 10-14 year olds when these types of game systems were used.  The changes were not Earth shattering, but certainly any improvement is a good one.

The bottom line is that these types of game systems will never replace active play, but may be a small part of the puzzle when combined with healthy diets to maintain ideal body compositions in our children.

http://www.ajcn.org/content/94/1/156.abstract

CAN THE WRONG GUT BACTERIA MAKE US FATTER??

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This is not the first time I’ve gone on a rant about the importance of having a healthy blend of bacteria in the gut on all kinds of chronic disease.  And the fact that wanton antibiotic use (especiallly in our infants and children) decimates a healthy gut and poor lifestyle choices do the same.  Stress can change our gut flora from healthy to unhealthy in a matter of hours.

Our gut contains hundreds and hundreds of little critters.  Bacteria dominate but also coexist with yeasts.  Despite what some promote (Candida diets, antibiotics, etc..), you can never completely eradicate anything in the gut.  Consider our gut like the Taliban underground hideouts in Afghanistan-too many places to hide to wipe them all out.

So consider our gut as more of the most important game of “kind of the hill” you will play.  Probiotic supplementation, good blend of soluble and insoluble fiber, exercise and low stress all help to keep the good guys on top of the hill.

This line of research indicated in this particular study is jaw droppingly fascinating.  Basically, the bacteria in our gut differs if we are obese or lean.  The obese person’s bacteria is more effective at harvesting calories for the person.  This means that more of the calories we eat get absorbed and have the potential to get stored as fat. 

Furthermore, as lean people consumed more calories, the bacteria quickly adapted towards the “obesigenic” side and helped the person absorb more calories.

Very powerful information.  Consider this information the next time a pediatrician wants to put your infant or child on antibiotics for a simple ear infection, Strept throat (yes–I said Strept throat!!) or an upper respiratory tract infection.

http://www.ajcn.org/content/94/1/58.abstract

BUT MY KIDS WON’T EAT VEGETABLES…

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My usual response to this is that the parent is likely not eating the vegetables that they want the child to eat, or, more often, the parent does not expect the child to enjoy the presented “healthy” food.  This article may provide some insight.


Researchers conducted a small focus group of 7-9 yr old children and gathered some interesting data.  First, presenting fruits and veggies as “good for you” or “healthy” was not the most effective tool to increase intake.  Yet I think this is the approach many parents take. 


It was found that pleasurable experiences and fun activities surrounding the intake of fruits and veggies were associated with increased likelihood of intake.  Associate healthy foods with time spent with your children, picnics or any other fun association you can make.  Keegan has always found it funny to steal food off of my plate, trying to get me to look away so he could swipe an olive, artichoke, grape or piece of fruit.  It was a game to him.  Healthier foods were never promoted as being healthy–rather, I’ve always stressed that we don’t eat foods that are high in “chemicals.”


As always, this starts with the parents.  Diet, stress levels and physical activity are all passed on to our children, whether we do so willingly or not.  Make no mistake–if you eat poorly, there is NO way your children will.  If you don’t make exercise a priority, your children will not understand.  If you stress, no matter how much you THINK you are hiding it from your children, they will pick up those signals and forever alter the way they deal with life’s problems.


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-277X.2011.01175_20.x/abstract

OMINOUS FINDING IN OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN

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I don’t think anyone thinks that a child being overweight is a good thing.  I also don’t think anyone would disagree that the numbers of overweight children seems to be growing faster than their waistlines.  Some parents, however, may not agree that it is their fault.  Sure, daycare and school food are, in general, horrendously bad for our children’s health.  But patterns of healthy living are formed long before children are influenced by their peers. 

As a society, however, I do not think we understand just how serious the problem is.  You may have heard me talk about telomeres before.  Telomeres are like the wick on the ends of our chromosomes.  The shorter they are, the less live that cell has left.  Overall, shorter telomeres are a bad thing and are influenced heavily by our lifestyles. 

This is why this article shocked me to the core.  Overweight children’s telomere lengths were 24% shorter than non-obese kids.  I cannot begin to adequately express the fear that these numbers generate.  A marker of overall health and longevity that is not limited to a single organ or cell type (meaning that the risk for developing ANY chronic disease will be elevated) was much worse in obese children.  I can only hope that society begins to understand the critical nature of obesity in children and begins to act accordingly.  If not, we will likely not have our children outlive us.