Childhood Obesity – Our Future is at Risk
September is National Childhood Obesity Month in the United States. However, given the severity of this issue, I think every month should be devoted to awareness of childhood obesity and its resolution. I must admit, it makes me angry to see fat kids eating junk food and their parents being OK with it. I think this is a form of child abuse. Albeit, unintentional by the parents because most parents want what’s best for their kids. I believe it is the parent appeasing their kids without recognizing the damage and consequences. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2017-2018, about 1 in 6 children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 (16.1%) were overweight. Nearly 1 in 5 children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 (19.3%) had obesity. About 1 in 16 children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 (6.1%) had severe obesity. This means one in three children in the U.S. in 2017-2018 was overweight or obese. It has gotten much worse since then with some reports showing a near quadruple. Childhood obesity puts kids at risk for health problems that were once seen only in adults, like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. The rates of childhood obesity have tripled since the 1970s.
Children who are overweight or obese have a four times greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than children with a normal body mass index (BMI). More than 85% of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese. Diabetes can lead to other complications like heart disease, kidney disease, and eye disease. Obesity can lead to high blood pressure and high triglycerides, which are risk factors for heart disease. Obesity can lead to breathing problems like asthma and sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can cause fatigue, irritability, and problems with concentration and memory. Obesity leads to bone and joint problems due to carrying excess weight. Obesity can lead to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. It can also affect school performance and quality of life.
The economics of treating childhood obesity are staggering. In 2022, annual direct and indirect costs were over $13 billion and projected to be more than $49 billion by 2050. This is just the costs associated for children and not even counting the costs associated with all the health conditions they develop once adults. This is a National Emergency. Furthermore, it is becoming a National Security issue. The CDC reports that over a third of young adults aged 17–24 are too overweight to serve in the military. To be considered eligible and active, the military looks for a BMI of 19.0–27.5 kg/m2 and able to do at least 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week. Another study from the CDC, report that 19% of active-duty service members were obese in 2020, up from 16% in 2015. These individuals are less likely to be medically ready to deploy. Between 2008 and 2017, active-duty soldiers had more than 3.6 million musculoskeletal injuries. One study found that active-duty soldiers with obesity were 33% more likely to get this type of injury. The Department of Defense (DOD), our nation’s largest employer, spends about $1.5 billion annually in obesity-related health care costs for current and former service members and their families, as well as costs to replace unfit personnel. Lost workdays due to overweight and obesity for active-duty military personnel is 658 ,000 days per year. This costs the Department of Defense $103 million per year. We are building a society of physically unfit kids unable to defend our country and costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year to deal with the health issues related to their diet and lifestyle.
There are many contributing factors that are contributing to this epidemic of childhood obesity. More than 65% of the food consumed in America today is processed food. These processed foods are full of sugar, preservatives, harmful dyes and depleted of any real essential nutrients. The other major factor is that kids do not exercise or get any real meaningful physical exercise anymore. Kids spend more time indoors playing video games, watching TV and being physically inactive. Children today are less aerobically fit than their parents were as kids. According to one study, children today take 90 seconds longer to run a mile than children did 30 years ago. My kids and teachers will send me pictures of their overweight classmates and students respectively revealing it is all junk food with no nutritional value and full of sugars and dyes. And people wonder they their kids are fat, unhealthy and unable to play sports.
There are visible signs. Acanthosis nigricans, the dark skin spots around the neck, elbows, armpits and other parts of the body, is a sign of insulin resistance and diabetes. Skin tags (also known as acrochordons) are much more common in the obese and people with insulin resistance. I see this in kids all the time now. When I was a kid this hardly ever happened.
So what do we do?
If your kids are overweight and obese, you have a responsibility to make changes or you are setting your kid up for a lifetime of sickness and poor quality of life. That is not what we want as parents. Follow these simple steps below and you will gradually see changes. It takes discipline, responsibility and accountability to change habits. Many times obese kids come from obese parents and people will say that obesity runs in their family. Obesity is not a genetic disease. Obesity runs in families because the parents are teaching their kids how to eat, what to eat and encouraging a lifestyle that leads to obesity. Parents have to be the example.
- Eliminate boxed cereals, sugary foods for breakfast. In fact, completely eliminate breakfast and teach your kids to do a 18 hour fast each day. Have them eat their last meal at 6 pm and not eat again until lunchtime the next day.
- Pack your kids a healthy lunch for school. Unfortunately, the food served in most school lunches are not healthy. Pack a high protein meal with good fats and minimal if any sugar or carbohydrates.
- Encourage them to play sports, be physically active and limit TV and video game time.
- Set good examples at home by making healthy food decisions. This should be a practice for the entire family, especially if the entire family is overweight and obese, which unfortunately is most families.
One of the most important jobs as parents is to give our kids the resources, training, skills, character and confidence to achieve whatever they want in the greatest country on Earth with the most opportunities. If our kids are obese, they lack the confidence, skills, capacity and many resources needed to be successful due to health issues as kids and later in life. I realize this may be a sensitive subject for many but put your feelings aside and do what is best for your kids. It is time to be responsible and accountable. The future of our country and society depend on it.
Be on the lookout for my latest book which will be out later this fall, “The Secret of Nitric Oxide; Bringing Nitric Oxide to Life”
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Dr. Nathan S. Bryan is a biochemist and physiologist that has more than 20 years of basic science and clinical research. His many seminal discoveries have resulted in dozens of issued U.S. and International patents. He is an international expert in nitric oxide and molecular medicine. Dr. Bryan is an innovator and successful entrepreneur who product technology is responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue worldwide. This content is not intended to replace medical advice from a physician.
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