Study hints obesity epidemic among US children has peaked
By LINDSEY TANNER – 18 hours ago
CHICAGO (AP) — The percentage of American children who are overweight or obese appears to have leveled off after a 25-year increase, according to new figures that offer a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dismal battle.
"That is a first encouraging finding in what has been unremittingly bad news," said Dr. David Ludwig, director of an obesity clinic at Children's Hospital Boston. "But it's too soon to know if this really means we're beginning to make meaningful inroads into this epidemic. It may simply be a statistical fluke."
In 2003-04 and 2005-06, roughly 32 percent of children were overweight but not obese, 16 percent were obese and 11 percent were extremely obese, according to a study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those levels held steady after rising without interruption since 1980.
"Maybe there is some reason for a little bit of optimism," said CDC researcher Cynthia Ogden, the study's lead author.
Some experts said that if the leveling-off is real, it could be because more schools and parents are emphasizing better eating habits and more exercise. Even so, they and Ogden stressed that it would be premature to celebrate.
"Without a substantial decline in prevalence, the full impact of the childhood epidemic will continue to mount in coming years," Ludwig said. That is because it can take many years for obesity-related complications to translate into life-threatening events, including heart attacks and kidney failure.
He co-wrote an editorial accompanying the study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. He had no role in the research.
The results are based on 8,165 children ages 2 to 19 who participated in nationally representative government health surveys in 2003-04 and 2005-06.
The surveys are considered the most accurate reflection of obesity levels because they are based on in-person measurements, not on people's own reporting of their height and weight.
CDC data reported last year showed obesity rates for men also held steady from 2003-04 to 2005-06 at about 33 percent after two decades of increases. The rate for women, 35 percent, remained at a plateau reached in 2003-04.
The CDC's analysis of data for 2007-08, due next year, may be the best evidence for determining what direction children's rates are really heading, Ludwig said.
Dr. Reginald Washington, a children's heart specialist in Denver and member of an American Academy of Pediatrics obesity committee, said "the country should be congratulated" if the rates have in fact peaked.
"There are a lot of people trying to do good things to try to stem the tide," Washington said. Some schools are providing better meals and increasing physical education, and Americans in general "are more aware of the importance of fruits and vegetables," he said.
On the other hand, he noted that he recently treated an obese young patient "who in three days did not have a single piece of fresh fruit.
"We still have a long ways to go," he said.
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Dairy Products Claims
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Recent claims that low-fat dairy products or calcium can help people lose weight are untrue, according to a review of the published scientific literature, which shows that neither dairy products in general nor calcium intake promote weight loss.
"Don't believe the hype," Dr. Amy Joy Lanou told Reuters Health. "The ads that promote milk as helping to achieve a healthy weight are misleading; the science does not support these ads."
Lanou, an assistant professor in the department of health and wellness at the University of North Carolina in Asheville and Neal D. Barnard with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC, evaluated evidence from 49 clinical trials that assessed whether dairy products or calcium can help people lose weight.
Of the 49 trials, 41 showed no effects of diary or calcium on weight, two showed an increase in body weight with a dairy regimen, one showed a lower rate of weight gain and only five showed weight loss.
However, it's quite likely that an association between calcium or dairy intake and weight loss seen in some "observational" studies may be due to other factors, such as increased exercise, cutting out high-calorie foods with little nutritional value, lifestyle habits, or increasing fiber, fruit, and vegetables in the diet, the researchers say.
"Our findings demonstrate that increasing dairy product intake does not consistently result in weight or fat loss and may actually have the opposite effect," Lanou and Barnard conclude in the latest issue of Nutrition Reviews.
Lanou said she was not at all surprised by the findings because milk is designed for growth. "Milk is a food that is designed for helping small mammals grow into rather large ones in a relatively short period of time," she explained. "It is counterintuitive to think that a food that has lots of calories, fats, and protein would be helpful for weight loss."
She suggests switching to water. "We drink way too many of our daily allotted calories in milk, milkshakes, lattes, sodas and other sweetened beverages. Water is healthy and naturally calorie-free," Lanou said. "Choosing water instead of milk means you can enjoy more nutrient-dense foods such as fruits vegetables, grains, and legumes and stay within your energy needs."
SOURCE: Nutrition Reviews, May 2008.
www.mmcdiet.com
"Don't believe the hype," Dr. Amy Joy Lanou told Reuters Health. "The ads that promote milk as helping to achieve a healthy weight are misleading; the science does not support these ads."
Lanou, an assistant professor in the department of health and wellness at the University of North Carolina in Asheville and Neal D. Barnard with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC, evaluated evidence from 49 clinical trials that assessed whether dairy products or calcium can help people lose weight.
Of the 49 trials, 41 showed no effects of diary or calcium on weight, two showed an increase in body weight with a dairy regimen, one showed a lower rate of weight gain and only five showed weight loss.
However, it's quite likely that an association between calcium or dairy intake and weight loss seen in some "observational" studies may be due to other factors, such as increased exercise, cutting out high-calorie foods with little nutritional value, lifestyle habits, or increasing fiber, fruit, and vegetables in the diet, the researchers say.
"Our findings demonstrate that increasing dairy product intake does not consistently result in weight or fat loss and may actually have the opposite effect," Lanou and Barnard conclude in the latest issue of Nutrition Reviews.
Lanou said she was not at all surprised by the findings because milk is designed for growth. "Milk is a food that is designed for helping small mammals grow into rather large ones in a relatively short period of time," she explained. "It is counterintuitive to think that a food that has lots of calories, fats, and protein would be helpful for weight loss."
She suggests switching to water. "We drink way too many of our daily allotted calories in milk, milkshakes, lattes, sodas and other sweetened beverages. Water is healthy and naturally calorie-free," Lanou said. "Choosing water instead of milk means you can enjoy more nutrient-dense foods such as fruits vegetables, grains, and legumes and stay within your energy needs."
SOURCE: Nutrition Reviews, May 2008.
www.mmcdiet.com