Newswise — The risk for obesity in children doubles for every two hours of television watched each day, and decreases 10 percent for every hour of exercise performed each day, according to University at Buffalo researchers who study the cause, prevalence and prevention of childhood obesity.
Among other findings by UB researchers who study childhood obesity:
* Children are becoming obese as young as 3 years old.
* Individual counseling programs for obese children are mostly ineffective.
* 86 percent of obese children became that way before the age of 6.
* "Metabolic programming" early in life may contribute to obesity.
The UB researchers, who have presented these and other findings to state lawmakers, offer these recommendations for combating the childhood obesity epidemic in America:
* Schools should develop quality physical education programs that provide daily physical activity -- a minimum of 30 minutes per day, 150 minutes per week -- for students in grades K-12.
* Programs to treat childhood obesity should focus on the entire family, not individual children.
* Fast food and sugar-sweetened soft drinks should be taxed.
Below are brief summaries of the UB experts' research and their recommendations for combating childhood obesity. The researchers are available for expert commentary for members of the media covering the cause and prevention of childhood obesity.
Leonard H. Epstein, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine, UB School of Public Health and Health Professions
A nationally known authority on childhood obesity, Epstein developed the widely used "Stoplight Diet" to treat childhood obesity, one of the few plans shown to produce long-term success in obese children. He was principal investigator on a $1.5 million NIH grant to conduct the first large-scale study on preventing obesity in high-risk children.
According to Epstein's research:
* Environmental influences -- watching television, playing computer games and the "invasion" of fast food, soft drinks and high-calorie snacks into children's diets -- are causing the "obesity epidemic" in children.
* The risk for obesity in children doubles for every two hours of television watched each day, and decreases 10 percent for every hour of exercise performed each day.
* Every additional daily serving of a soft drink increases the risk of obesity in children by 60 percent.
Epstein's recommendations for combating childhood obesity:
* Establish insurance reimbursement for obesity treatment.
* Involve the whole family in the treatment of an obese child
* Restrict food advertising directed at children.
* Tax fast food and sugar-sweetened soft drinks.
* Improve quality of school lunch programs.
Teresa Quattrin, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology, The Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo
Quattrin was the principal investigator for a study that identified obese children who are at risk for Type 2 diabetes so that they, along with their families, can be put on an interventional program that effectively fends off the onset of the disease.
According to Quattrin's research:
* Children are becoming obese as young as three years old.
* 86 percent of children who are obese became that way before the age of 6.
* Providing information and counseling on diet and exercise programs to obese children and their parents did little to reverse childhood obesity.
Quattrin's recommendations for combating childhood obesity:
* Communities should develop family-based programs geared toward the prevention of childhood obesity, since such family-based interventions are the only type shown to produce long-term weight control.
* Form partnerships between the health system and insurers to create family-based, behavioral-dietary activity programs.
Joan M. Dorn, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine, UB School of Public Health and Health Professions
Dorn studies the effect of exercise on obesity and cardiovascular disease. According to Dorn's research:
* Cardiovascular risk factors associated with obesity have been found in children as young as 3 and 4, and these risk factors tend to track into adulthood.
Dorn's recommendations for combating childhood obesity:
* Health-care workers and pediatricians should screen children for obesity and risk factors as part of "well-child" visits, provide counseling and educational information, and prescribe healthy diets and exercise for their patients.
* Public policy makers should regulate food advertising to children, promote public service announcements promoting healthy eating and physical activity, require calorie and fat content to be listed on menus, ban soft drink promotion in the schools and fund more research into childhood obesity.
Mulchand S. Patel, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry and Associate Dean for Research and Biomedical Education, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Patel studies nutrient-induced obesity and biochemical explanations for obesity. According to Patel's research:
* "Metabolic programming" early in life may contribute to obesity, pointing to the possible role of early introduction of baby foods in the development of childhood obesity and of maternal insulin resistance -- and obesity -- in the development of obesity in children.
* Babies who were formula-fed when it was popular in the 1950s and 60s may have developed obesity as adults and may have passed this trait to their children.
Anne S. Lockwood, Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Manager of the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
According to Lockwood:
* Both eating and exercising are behaviors, therefore clinical and counseling psychologists should be utilized to treat obesity. Unfortunately, insurers do not pay for such treatment.
* As long as health insurers decline to pay for the services of a psychologist for anything other than the treatment of diagnosed mental disorders, psychologists will not be able to help families and children change the behaviors that lead to obesity.
R. Seiji Ohtake
Clinical Instructor, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, UB School of Public Health and Health Professions
According to Ohtake:
* Part of the blame for children's lack of physical activity belongs to the schools, which don't recognize the importance of play and physical activity in the daily life of children.
* A child's purpose in life is to be active, explore and experience their environment and to learn. In school they are told to stop fidgeting and pay attention. The child learns that physical activity is an unacceptable behavior and is not to be tolerated.
* Schools should develop quality physical education programs that provide daily physical activity -- a minimum of 30 minutes per day, 150 minutes per week -- for students in K-12.
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