Blog Wrap Up for the Semester

As the semester comes to a close everyone wraps things up for closure. This blog will continue to be added upon as a lifetime project. From what you can see this blog focuses on dire need to decrease childhood obesity in the United States. To stop childhood obesity, we as parents need to start early with our children. How early? How about before a child is even born?

Recently there has been a formula that was developed to determine if a newborn is likely to develop obesity based on birth weight and the body mass index (BMI) of the parents and working class of the mother. This formula would be able to help not only parents to understand that their child is prone to childhood obesity. This formula is based off of data in Europe and there is a need to have a formula that can be applied to the United States. In doing so, the formula would provide assistance to health care providers on the education needs of the parents of the child.

The news story for this is located here: http://video.foxnews.com/v/1996884463001/can-obesity-risks-for-newborn-babies-be-predicted?intcmp=related

The obesity predictor calculator is located here: http://files-good.ibl.fr/childhood-obesity/

Of course my blog focuses on children who are older and their parents, but the key for prevention is to start early. This semester the blog provides a lesson plan, a video of a presentation, a brochure for parents, information on healthy habits, samples and resources for healthy food alternatives. Other resources and information on battling childhood obesity will be added to this blog in the following semesters.

References:

Fox News. (2012). Could a new formula be key to predicting childhood obesity? Retrieved from http://video.foxnews.com/v/1996884463001/can-obesity-risks-for-newborn-babies-be-predicted?intcmp=related

Predicted probability of childhood obesity from traditional risk factors in the NFBC1986. (2012). Retrieved from http://files-good.ibl.fr/childhood-obesity/

Controversal Advertising for Childhood Obesity

This video shows how controversies about how to bring up and treat childhood obesity. The link is provided here: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/stop-sugarcoating-child-obesity-ads-draw-controversy/story?id=15273638#.ULaeKIaHT9p.

 After you watch the video you might choose one side or the other. Was it right of this company to shame parents and children into learning about treating obesity and for treating obesity? On the other hand, is it better to teach children and parents in a neutral environment about how to prevent childhood obesity? We, as health care providers, should be concerned about the best interest of the children.

Taking the side of the advertisements, they do present the reality of childhood obesity and its prevalence in that community. The advertisements do catch the attention of audiences. The cons to these advertisements are their impacts on audiences. They could result to low self-esteem, shame and guilt. Another con to these advertisements is that it does not provide a solution to obesity.

Without the advertisements, the pros are that there is an environment that does not inflict shame and there is less of a possibility of guilt. The cons to not having the advertisements are information on the severity of childhood obesity is not getting to the target population. Also, without the advertisements that target population will be unreached by the information about the prevalence of childhood obesity.

Of course there is a line that should not be crossed. The question is: where is that line? Has this company crossed the line? The foundation of the matter is that childhood obesity exists and it is on the increase in our nation and needs to be stopped.

November: American Diabetes Month

Right after the sugar surge of Halloween and in middle of gearing up of the holiday season is the month of November which is American Diabetes Month. A little ironic, don’t you think? Eating too many sugars is not the only risk factor for developing diabetes. The main contributing factor for developing type II diabetes is being overweight and obese. The American Diabetes Association as stated in their 2012 American Diabetes Month newsletter states

Recent estimates project that as many as one in three American adults will have diabetes in 2050, and an additional 79 million Americans are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2012a).

That means in the next 38 years those in kindergarten will be around 43 or 44 years of age and one in three of them are projected to have diabetes.  

            To change these projections, the American Diabetes Association recommends that we need to prevent obesity within ourselves to decrease our risk of developing type II diabetes. Limiting the amount of sweets and candies one eats is not the only factor to defeat obesity. There is also a need to have a variety of vegetables, whole grains, fruit, dairy and lean proteins in meals (American Diabetes Association, 2012b). The American Diabetes Association has a presentation that can guide individuals to healthy habits that they can start and carry on with their families to prevent obesity and type II diabetes. These efforts, if followed, could decrease the projected estimates for 2050 and change the future for our children.

            For more information go to http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/programs/american-diabetes-month/.

References

American Diabetes Association. (2012a). American diabetes month 2012 newsletter insert. Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/programs/american-diabetes-month/

American Diabetes Association. (2012b). American diabetes month 2012 PowerPoint presentation. Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/programs/american-diabetes-month/

Brochure

Unfortunately, Blogger is not compatible with PDF or Word docs. I can e-mail the PDF to you if you want.

SMOG Analysis

The less than 30 sentences SMOG analysis formula will be used. This gives the response of 1.97 and according to the SMOG conversion chart the reading level is 4^th grade +/- 1.5 grade level (University of South Carolina, 2003). Based on this information the brochure is a reasonable reading level for parents and guardians of children.

Reference

University of South Carolina. (2003). The SMOG readability test. Retrieved from http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/directory/tool/ratelevel.htm