If you read this blog regularly, i'm highly against obesity shaming. The whole idea that people simply choose to be obese and lack the will power to change ignores a multitude of educational/psych-social/politcal/cultural factors, as well as physiological and genetic susceptbility. It's extremely reductionist to play the calories-in-calories-out blame game. This isn't too say there isn't some level of personal responsibility, but obesity is a multi-factorial issue - as i've blogged about before.
A new study (1) recently came out in the New England Journal of Medicine that looked at the incidence of obesity in the United States using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Taking data from school children from 1998-2007 (about 21000 children were enrolled in the study), early childhood obesity (the age entering kindergarten) was highly predictive of obese status at age 14. About half of the children who were obese at age 14 had been overweight when they were in kindergarten. Children whose birthweight was >8.8lbs were also more at risk of being obese at every age analyzed. Of note, individuals born into families of the highest SES were least likely to become obese. The researchers conclude that a substantial component of childhood obesity is established at age 5. And obese children become obese adults.
It's no 5 year olds choice to be obese, nor is it due to their personal responsibility. Education regarding healthy eating is key, and health literacy is not innate (only 12% test proficient in America) (2). Teaching parents is critical - but i'd reckon to say parents 75 years ago, before the obesity epidemic, weren't very health literate either. What's changed? Look at the food system, Look at the farm bill, Look at the food environment we've created. Obesity is a systemic issue.
1. http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1309753
2. http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/issuebrief/
A new study (1) recently came out in the New England Journal of Medicine that looked at the incidence of obesity in the United States using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Taking data from school children from 1998-2007 (about 21000 children were enrolled in the study), early childhood obesity (the age entering kindergarten) was highly predictive of obese status at age 14. About half of the children who were obese at age 14 had been overweight when they were in kindergarten. Children whose birthweight was >8.8lbs were also more at risk of being obese at every age analyzed. Of note, individuals born into families of the highest SES were least likely to become obese. The researchers conclude that a substantial component of childhood obesity is established at age 5. And obese children become obese adults.
It's no 5 year olds choice to be obese, nor is it due to their personal responsibility. Education regarding healthy eating is key, and health literacy is not innate (only 12% test proficient in America) (2). Teaching parents is critical - but i'd reckon to say parents 75 years ago, before the obesity epidemic, weren't very health literate either. What's changed? Look at the food system, Look at the farm bill, Look at the food environment we've created. Obesity is a systemic issue.
1. http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1309753
2. http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/issuebrief/
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