LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

childhood obesity

Childhood Obesity Statistics: Can the Xbox Kinect Help?

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I’ve addressed the chemical and dietary aspects of childhood obesity statistics. Clearly, though, exercise plays a role as well. Could technology help obese kids?

It’s a dream that every kid has. The parents condoning the use of video games. In the past, this really hasn’t been an option due to the inherently sedentary nature of video game playing.

But that has been changing.  It started with the Nintendo Wi and has moved forward with the Playstation move and the Xbox Kinect. If you’ve never played these games before, they vary from sitting on the couch swishing around the controller to all out physical activity with games like Just Dance, Kinect Sports, Fighters Uncaged or Kinect Adventures.

These games can really help you break a sweat. But just how much?

This particular study was designed to answer just that question.

Researchers looked at the calories burned while a small group of kids aged 11-15 played two different Xbox Kinect games for 15 minutes: Dance Central and Kinect Sports Boxing.  Here are the findings:

  1. Heart rate, oxygen uptake, and energy expenditure were considerably higher with these games.
  2. The Dance Central increased calorie burning by 150%.
  3. The Boxing increased calorie burning by 263%.

Not too shaby for something the kids may actually enjoy and can be done year round, regardless of hot or cold temps. AND, to top it all off, this is clearly something you can do as a family. Many of the games, like Kinect Adventures, allows you to compete against one another. We break the family into two teams for some nice competitive fun.

Incidentally, this is not the first study to look at what might happen in a household that uses these types of games. In May of 2011 a study looked at the weight of children who were given a Wii system instead of their normal, sedentary-type video games and found definate improvements in 6 months.

If you have played the Xbox Kinect before, what games did your family really seem to like and helped everyone get more exercise?

 

Childhood Obesity Statistics: 12 Reasons for Concern

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You try to do everything for your kids’ health. Yet childhood obesity statistics continue to mount. Could something they do doing every day be affecting them?

In today’s overly toxic world there are many things you are exposed to that harm your health and you may not even be aware of them or how likely your exposure is.  Some examples include:

  1. Teflon / non-stick coatings on cookware
  2. Fragrances in many items such as candles and sprays
  3. Flame retardants in most clothing, linens and furniture
  4. Rapidly grilled meat

While the list is much longer, these are a few that we are all very commonly exposed to. The one I did not put on this list, though, it likely the most common exposure.

That 12 ounce bottled water sitting next to you right now.

Somewhere along the way, society decided that we were at risk of spontaneously desiccating to a husk if we did not have water immediately accessible at every single moment of our lives. Personally, I haven’t seen it happen, but I suppose it could.

This behavior has had a price to pay. The exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) has increased as a result of this proximity to bottled water. I have certainly written in past blogs about how bad BPA can be for our health, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes and certain cancers like breast cancer.

This particular article takes a look at the relationship between BPA exposure and childhood obesity statistics.  Researchers looked at the urine BPA levels of children aged 9-19 and looked at how many suffered from childhood obesity. Here’s what they found:

  • Those with the lowest BPA had the lowest risk of childhood obesity.
  • Those kids with the highest levels of BPA had a 22% greater risk of being classified as having childhood obesity than the kids with the lowest levels.

Granted, 22% is not a huge number, but given that the childhood obesity statistics are continually heading up, anything we can do to impact this process is a good thing. So scrap the plastic water bottle and start giving your dehydrated children tea in a BPA free water container.

Are you still buying bottled water for your family?

Vitamin D During Pregnancy Helps Childhood Obesity Statistics

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Childhood obesity statistics are clearly increasing. The causes are many, but some stand out. Some actually start in pregnancy and can be very easy to address.

After a child is born, there are many factors that have been proven to affect childhood obesity.  Things like:

But can factors that occur during pregnancy be playing a role in rising childhood obesity statistics?

Mom’s diet and exercise levels during pregnancy are obviously critical as well as the avoidance of every possible pharmaceutical drug possible.  In adults, there have been links between something as simple as vitamin D levels and obesity.  As it turns out, this relationship may also play a strong role when vitamin D is used during pregnancy.

This particular study looked at the levels of vitamin D in pregnancy and the risk of their child being obese or overweight 6 years later.  There was a clear correlation, with those moms having higher levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream being less likely to have 6 year olds with too much body fat.  The authors suggest that vitamin D may play a role in the early programming of fat cells while the infant is still in the womb developing.

So this generally shouldn’t be a problem, right?  Most women are taking prenatals, and prenatals have vitamin D in them, right??

Most prescription prenatal vitamins have a mere 400 IU.  Not the mention the fact that ever one I have ever looked at are of very low quality and ridiculously expensive (although many pregnant women do not realize the true cost because of insurance coverage).  Combine this knowledge with studies that have shown that many newborns and their moms are deficient in vitamin D and you’ve got quite a potential mess.  A good dose of vitamin D during pregnancy usually starts around 2,000 IU per day and may go higher depending upon skin color, body mass index and latitude.

The bottom line is that, if you are pregnant or considering getting pregnant, supplemental vitamin D is probably a very good idea.

If you are pregnant or have had a baby, were you aware that taking supplemental vitamin D during pregnancy is a very good idea?  What other measures have you taken to ensure that your child will maintain an ideal body weight?

Yes, your kid is overweight: Weighing the cons

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Odds are, you are not correct in estimating your toddler’s weight.  Maybe it’s denial.  Maybe it’s because your child’s peers are likely a similar weight.  Whatever the reason, it’s still highly likely you’re not correct in estimating whether your toddler is of optimal weight.

The fact that obesity rates are rising should come as no shocker.  But it’s hard to look in your own backyard and see this occurring.  Much easier to look at the mother of 5 overweight kids in line at Wal-Mart buying 6 2-liters of Coke and the bonus size of Oreos.

Weight aside, how many of our ideal-weight children are actually healthy?  There was much dismay several years ago here in AZ when the state budget constraints were going to necessitate cutbacks (or freezes to growth, depending on which political party had the microphone).  But really–how much medical care should kids need??  The answer, with the exception of a small percentage of child with health challenges not easily remedied with lifestyle changes, is very little.

But with poorer lifestyle choices comes poorer health and increased utilization of medical care.  The link between obesity and chronic medical conditions like asthma and respiratory illnesses is strong.  Worse, chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer clearly begin in the pre-adolescent and teen years.

So, let’s make this clear.  If your child is overweight (not even obese) they are being set up for a lifetime of sickness and disease.  It can’t be any more clear.  It is not merely an esthetic issue; rather, it is the beginning of the breakdown in health that will extend for decades to come.

So why would a parent NOT make the right choices for their child if the child is overweight?  According to this particular study, the reason is that 86% of mothers of overweight toddlers underestimated their child’s weight.

Other interesting observations:

  • Mom’s of underweight toddlers were 913% more likely to be accurate
  • 81.7% of mothers of overweight toddlers were satisfied with their toddler’s body size
  • On the other hand, only 30% of mothers of underweight toddlers were likely to be satisfied

Overall, there is a clear perception problem.  Almost all of the mothers of overweight toddlers in this study think their child’s weight is ok, and almost all of them were satisfied with their child’s weight.  Maybe the idea of a cute, plump baby and subsequent toddler used to be ok, but when this represents the beginning of health risks, it’s time for society to rethink this cultural norm.

So, if parents of overweight children do not think their child is overweight, there is no impetus for lifestyle changes.  If you have a toddler, preschooler or school aged child at home, take a hard look at them and try to be objective and ask yourself if your child is as healthy as he or she could be.

Want Healthier Kids? Use These 5 Feeding Tricks

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There is no question that we have a massive crisis on our hands.  Our children are becoming increasingly overweight and obese.  While many consider it just an esthetic issue, this is far from the truth.  Overweight children clearly demonstrate early development of conditions like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, gallbladder problems and damaged blood vessels.  This is serious stuff.

Whenever I deal with parents who are truly concerned about their child’s weight, I stress that it is not about losing weight for the child, but rather improving lifestyle so that weight stabilizes and they grow into their current weight.  But make no mistake, the fault lies with the parents.  If the parents’ health behaviors have issues, it is hopeless to think that you can improve your child’s health behaviors above your own.

This particular article looks at two types of parental approaches to improving the health of children.

The first is an overt or traditional style.  In this model, parents take a much greater control over the dietary choices of their children and several characteristics or behaviors are evident:

  1. Parental misinterpretation of normal weight
  2. Attempt at restriction of food intake
  3. Pressures to eat when children refuse food (“empty your plate”)
  4. Using food as a calming agent (if you stop doing this, I’ll give you candy)
  5. Not providing regular feeding opportunities (lack of structured meals)
  6. Not providing appropriate modeling for eating (back to the reflection of parental health behaviors)

This modeling, however, has been shown to backfire, as it is associated with preoccupation with food, eating in the absence of hunger, poorer self-esteem, and further weight gain.  Pressuring children to eat also is strictly discouraged because it can disconnect children from their hunger, satiety, and appetite cues.

On the other hand, a covert or trust model takes a  different approach:

  1. Parents are responsible for selecting foods to present at meals and snacks
  2. Parents determine the timing for meals and snacks
  3. Parents choose the place to eat
  4. Parents are sitting and eating with the child
  5. The atmosphere is kept pleasant and positive

In this model, children are responsible for what to eat and how much (or even whether) to eat from the food provided.  The difference here is that the child is given multiple options to choose from, but these options are all balanced choices.  As an example, when my 6 year old is getting ready for school in the morning, he is always presented with at least 3 or 4 options for breakfast, and even those he has options within those choices (whole grain toast with peanut butter, honey or 100% fruit preserves or any combination thereof).

The covert style is really reflective of an overall healthier family because the influence is not direct, rather it is merely a reflection of how the parents live and eat.

Current Gallbladder Pain – Blame Your Younger Years

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Sure-you remember fondly back on your youth, high school and college days.  I remember doing things as a child that, if I saw my son doing them, I would think he’s out of his mind and I was doing a poor job as a father.  Then there’s the near-permanent frontal lobe damage so many seem to accomplish in college (which, by the way, is not true–the brain remains plastic long into our adult years).  But did you ever think about about what damage is being done to our gallbladders?

Given the state of medicine today, one would think that the gallbladder is near-vestigial and can be taken out on a whim with nary a price to pay. 

First, we need to understand some of the basic functions of the gallbladder.  The absolute most important job of the gallbladder is to store the bile that is constantly produced in the liver and release bile in response to the hormone CCK in response to a fatty meal.  The bile released then helps to emulsify and absorb the fat and fat soluble nutrients of our meal.

So what happens after a cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal)?  There are several negative consequences.

  1. Most common is diarrhea.  This is because there is now unabsorbed fat in the intestinal tract (no bile to help with the absorption) which contributes to the osmotic diarrhea commonly seen.  Luckily, supplements containing bile acids can very successfully relieve the diarrhea.
  2. Fat soluble nutrient absorption problems.  This includes the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, but also fat soluble phytonutrients like lycopene (the red pigment in tomatoes that are known to protect the prostate and heart) and a long list of others.  Supplementation with certain vitamins is essential.
  3. Increased risk of colorectal cancer.  The reasoning is not quite worked out, but it likely has to do with the constant slow release of bile acids from the liver that are no longer stored.  Because they aren’t stored and released to bind up with fats as needed, they are free to float down into the intestinal tract and create problems among cells that are not designed to handle the acids. Eating certain foods regularly may help bind up the bile acids and lower the risk of harm.

These little tidbits are rarely shared with patients prior to their surgical removals (which, by the way, is actually required–it’s called informed consent and is grounds for malpractice).  All too often, even severe gallbladder attacks are NOT grounds for gallbladder removal, despite popular opinion.  Recent studies suggest less than a third of patients with severe symptoms will continue to have problems.  This means that more mild symptoms should not even initiate the conversation.

Of course, the real answer is not damaging our gallbladder in the first place.  And this, while trying to avoid sounding like a broken record, is almost always a result of being prediabetic.  I’ve always told patients that gallbladder problems can occur decades before someone actually becomes diabetic.  So, of course, fixing the gallbladder has everything to do with pulling back from a pro-diabetic lifestyle.

This particular article gives us some insight into just how early this process starts.  Researchers found that obese preadolescents actually began to have problems with gallbladder motility long before they became an adult. 

I do not need to stress to anyone just the life altering importance of raising our children with good lifestyle habits and maintaining an ideal body composition.  If your child is NOT in this category, you need to understand fully that the damage to their delicate bodies has already begun.

DAIRY CONTRIBUTES LESS TO WEIGHT MANAGEMENT – (12-3-07)

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Is higher dairy consumption associated with lower body weight and fewer metabolic disturbances?

In public health circles, the devotion to dairy is almost godlike. Try to find ANY kind of public health recommendation that doesn’t include daily dairy servings. The problem is, there is very little strong research to actually support these recommendations, and plenty of reasons not to. There has been much blame on childhood obesity on the switch away from milk to soft drinks.

However, we see in this study that dairy has very little ability to help manage weight, and this was at 4.1 servings / day. Combine this with the hormones, antibiotics and allergy potential, and it really has no right being on the ranks of every public health recommendation.

Read entire article here

COULD ANTIBIOTICS IN CHILDHOOD CONTRIBUTE TO OBESITY?

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Metabolic activity of the enteric microbiota influences the fatty acid composition of murine and porcine liver and adipose tissues

Have I mentioned, by any chance, that the gut flora may have some type of microscopic role in human health.  And that by destroying this flora with antibiotics or not even getting it in the first place (C-section, mom having been on antibiotics) might be a bad thing?

My mind is not what it used to be, but I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it once or twice.  Maybe even three times.  With a little ginko, I might even remember 50 or so times….  So, looking at this article, could antibiotics in childhood contribute to obesity?

Read entire article here