North Florida Nesties
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: Poll: Obese Babies/Toddlers/Little Kids
I chose special snowflake - like the article indicated, there are other things that are outside of the parents control that may lead a child to early obesity. In situations where it is clearly a medical problem, I don't think they should be charged with child abuse, unless its clearly neglect that caused the issue.. or they're not doing what they should to rectify it.
If you're just shoving crap at your kid? Yeah, that's abuse. It's also a HUGE disservice to the child. They're going to battle with their weight and healthy eating choices for the rest of their lives. Why not introduce them to healthy eating habits when they're younger?
Does B eat cookies, cake, etc? Yes, of course. Is it an every day thing? No way, not at all. He also eats a ton of fruits and veggies, low fat dairy, lean protein, etc. Two of his most asked for snacks are 2% cheese sticks and greek yogurt.
ETA - I do think it is abuse, but I don't know that charging them with child abuse is the right answer either.
WTF? I didn't read the entire CNN article, but how would taking a kid from their parents and placing them in a (possibly equally uninformed on nutrition) foster home help anything?
Obviously something needs to change, but charging parents with abuse isn't it IMO. Maybe mandatory classes? Maybe a nutrition orientation for parents and students on parents night at schools? Sending kids home with meal plan suggestions? The problem is that the parents who are feeding their kids five happy meals a day are probably the ones least likely (generalizing here, but I don't think it's too inaccurate) to show up to these things or read information ab out it. So back to the drawing board.
But my point is removing kids from their homes because they're fat is ridiculous. Again, how are possibly financially strapped foster parents a.) more likely to be able to afford frresh fruits and vegetables and lean protein and b.) more likely to even know to feed these things to kids?
Yay for discussion!
Unforunately, its just not black & white. There are so many surrounding factors as other posters have pointed out.
But is there even a solution at all?
My Ovulation Chart
I thought of a (one of many) possible roots to this problem.
I think our society has become so accepting of being overweight/obese that people get offended when their doctor tells them the truth and offers suggestions. I've seen this on the nest all the time as well as IRL when people act indignant and incredulous that their PCP or ob/gyn told them they fell into an overweight or obese category.
I don't have kids so I don't know for sure, but I imagine some (not all certainly)parents would have this same attitude when/if a doctor suggested their precious was overweight/obese. "How dare he call little Johnny fat! Well, we'll just have to find a new pediatrician then. Hrruph." And the parents who would react like this, I imagine, are the ones who are uninformed and need the wake up call the most. If were a doctor now I would be scared to tell people the truth for fear of going out of business!
I hope that made sense and wasn't offensive. I'm not suggesting all parents are like that at all. Just that it's one of many factors for parents of obese kids and obese adults - ignorance and affordability were already mentioned, but I think denial and "fat acceptance" together are worth mentioning as well. Again I don't know what the solution is here, but I do think that this is a part of the problem.
This is an older study, Ash, but there's definitely a link in the U.S. between obesity and poverty.
http://www.obesity-treatment.com/?q=feature/the-link-between-obesity-and-poverty
The Link Between Obesity and Poverty
Obesity is commonly viewed as having three primary influences: genetics, diet, and exercise. But if future studies support recent research, a fourth factor may eventually be added to that list: economics.
In January 2004, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study that linked obesity with poverty. The study was authored by Dr. Adam Drewnowski of the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine, and Dr. S.E. Specter, a research nutrition scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A Jan. 4, 2004, article about this study on the ScienceDaily website noted that low-income consumers are more likely to purchase high-calorie, energy-dense foods (those that are higher in fat, sugar, or salt). Foods in this category are more likely to contain "empty calories," nutrition-poor elements that the body often converts directly to fat.
"The reason healthier diets are beyond the reach of many people is that such diets cost more," Drewnowski said in the ScienceDaily article. "On a per calorie basis, diets composed of whole grains, fish, and fresh vegetables and fruit are far more expensive than refined grains, added sugars and added fats."
Studies support obesity-poverty link
Though the global obesity epidemic includes individuals of all socioeconomic levels, a series of findings that were reported in the May 6, 2008, edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer point to a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity among the world's poorer citizens. The article included the following statistics in support of the obesity-poverty connection:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has found the obesity rate among poverty-stricken women to be 50 percent higher than it is among women of higher socioeconomic status.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 percent of women in U.S. households whose total annual income is less than $15,000 are obese. In households in which the total annual income is $50,000 or greater, the obesity rate among women is 17 percent.
Researchers with the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, and other institutions determined that poor teenagers (ages 15 to 17) were 50 percent more likely to be overweight than were non-poor teens in the same age range. This study found the higher percentage of overweight was the same among male and female teens, as well as among adolescents who are white or African-American.
Along a similar line of research, an analysis of data collected by the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during the years 1999 to 2004 found a higher rate of overweight among children ages 2 to 19 who resided in impoverished households than among children from more financially secure households. This study, which was reported by Medscape General Medicine in May 2007, determined that impoverished children were 3 percent more likely to be overweight.
The U.S. Census Bureau determines poverty according to a household's annual income and the number of individuals who live there. In 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the poverty threshold for a family of four (two adults and two children) was an annual household income of $20,444.
Experts search for explanations
Researchers and other health care experts have offered a number of hypotheses to explain the cause of the connections they have discovered between obesity and poverty. Among the most prevalent rationales are the higher price of healthier food and fewer opportunities for exercise in poor neighborhoods.
For example, one of the conclusions of the Medscape study group was that continued increases in obesity rates "likely result from the interaction of various biological and social factors in an environment that provides an overabundance of high-calorie foods with fewer opportunities for physical activity."
Academic conclusions like this are supported by first-person accounts provided by impoverished individuals.
Tianna Gaines, an obese 28-year-old woman who lives on public assistance in an economically disadvantaged area of Philadelphia, echoed the Medscape study group's finding in her comments to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In addition to noting that healthy food is more expensive and harder to find where she lives, she stated that exercise opportunities are more difficult to come by as well. "I don't have the money for Bally's fitness clubs," Gaines told Inquirer reporter Alfred Lubrano. "And I can't run here. They shoot you."
Twelve hundred miles away, single mother Tyann Taylor (a certified nursing assistant who relies on food stamps to feed herself and her five children) painted a similar picture for Minnesota Public Radio. "I would love for [my children] to have more fruit with every meal, fruit for a snack. But it's hard to do that because it's expensive," Taylor told MPR reporter Elizabeth Stawicki. "My kids are not eating healthy, because I can't afford to give them what they need."
The same article in which Taylor is featured cites the head of the Minnesota Center for Obesity, Metabolism, and Endocrinology as acknowledging the dilemma faced by less affluent shoppers. "Low-income people have the toughest decisions to make regarding what they can buy with the limited resources that they have," said Dr. Michael Gonzalez-Campoy. "Sometimes healthy food is not a part of that equation."
Prognosis appears grim
Though ongoing research and continued publicity are raising awareness of the association between poverty and obesity, economic difficulties in the United States threaten to make the problem even worse. A May report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture notes that causes as diverse as calamitous weather patterns, a weakening U.S. dollar, and a rising demand for biofuels has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the price of standard commodities such as grain and vegetable oil.
As food prices rise and household incomes stagnate, experts predict that low-income individuals will experience greater difficulties in their efforts to live a healthy lifestyle. In the opinion of at least one researcher, these difficulties will lead to higher rates of overweight and obesity among America's poor.
"Obesity is the toxic consequence of a failing economy," Drewnowski told ScienceDaily.
SOURCES
Medscape General Medicine. "Childhood overweight and family income." Posted May 3, 2007. (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/552148)
Minnesota Public Radio. "Poor and overweight: A connection?" Posted May 31, 2006 (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/05/11/healthyeating/)
Philadelphia Inquirer. "Food costs likely to boost obesity in poor." Posted May 6, 2008. (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20080506_Food_costs_likely_to_boost_obesity_in_poor.html)
ScienceDaily. "Researcher links rising tide of obesity to food prices." Posted Jan. 5, 2004. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040105071229.htm)
U.S. Census Bureau. "Poverty." Accessed May 19, 2008. (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/overview.html)
U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Global Agricultural Supply and Demand: Factors Contributing to the Recent Increase in Food Commodity Prices." Updated May 1, 2008. (http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/WRS0801/)
Thanks for the article, that was fast
It definitely confirmed my suspicions about lower-income/higher-obesity.
Exactly, and that's why it would be ideal if some sort of investigation and evaluation process could be involved. Sometimes it is well meaning parents. I also don't think this applies to slightly overweight children.
However, when you're talking about morbidly obese with no explanation as to why, it's in the child's best interest for someone to intervene. I was watching something (on Oprah maybe?) years ago where a 100 lb 5 year old drank bacon fat off of a spoon. That's not a lack of education or poverty. It's hard because the mother did love her child...but in my opinion, that is most definitely abuse and if the living situation didn't improve that child would ultimately do better if she was removed from the home.
I also think there are a lot of parents who show love through food. There was an episode of "I Used to be Fat" where the teenaged boy's mother openly admitted to showing love through food. If her kid skinned a knee, she gave him a cookie. Straight A's on a report card? A hefty dinner. She had essentially brainwashed her kids to emotionally eat - happy, sad, bored, etc. The solution/celebration was always food.
Ash, here is another article that was on PBS. (It even has pictures and graphs!)
I was very lucky as a child because my mom always had a large variety of fresh veggies for us. We only had cake as a special occasion (birthdays) and we very rarely went out to eat, much less to McDonald's. I was also on free lunch all almost all of my K-12 years in school.
I realize that this is not normal and it makes me sad that there are so many kids out there that don't know what fresh veggies are or don't have the option to get these fresh foods because their parents don't eat them.
Kids learn from their surroundings. KFC and McDonald's are not well balanced meals but how do they learn that if it's the norm at home? I don't have an answer, but I would like to think that some basic education for the parents would be helpful.