Is love really blind? You bet it is, says a new study - especially when you're asking parents if their kids are overweight.
Childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing, experts say. And while we may notice the trend in other children, we apparently turn a blind eye to the problem when we look at our own.
Advertisement
"Obesity is very prevalent, and parents just don't recognise it," says study author Dr Barbara Dennison, an associate professor of clinical paediatrics at Columbia University. Dennison presented her findings at the joint meeting of the Paediatric Academic Societies and American Academy of Paediatrics in Boston.
Dennison and her colleagues surveyed the parents of more than 1 400 children, ages one to five, who were participating in the federal government's Women, Infants and Children health and nutrition program, popularly known as WIC, in New York state.
The researchers recorded the children's body mass index, or BMI, which is a measurement that takes into account both weight and height.
The results were disappointing, they say.
Expecting to find 15 percent of the children overweight, with a BMI above the 85th percentile, the researchers instead found more than twice that: 35 percent of the children fell into the overweight range, they say.
And, the number of children considered obese was three times higher than it should have been, the study reveals. A BMI above the 95th percentile constitutes obesity, and only 5 percent of the children should have fallen into that range, Dennison says. However, 21 percent of Hispanic children, 18 percent of black children and 15 percent of white children had a BMI that put them above the 95th percentile.
Surprising, too, was that few parents knew their children were heavy enough to be considered obese, she says. Almost 70 percent of the parents of the obese kids described their child's weight as "OK" or "just right," and only 3 percent of these parents knew their kids were overweight. Dennison says 24 percent thought their kids might be a little overweight, and eight percent of the parents even thought their kids were underweight.
Hispanic children were more likely than African-American or white kids to be overweight, she says, and their parents were more likely to see their kids as being underweight. Dennison says she's not sure why this is, but that it might be due to cultural differences.
"Maybe some parents are overweight themselves, and no red flag waves when their kids become overweight," says Elisa Zied, a family nutritionist. "In some cultures, it's desirable to be a little heavier."
But, Zied says, it's important to remember that obesity can lead to numerous health problems, including high blood pressure and diabetes.
Dennison says that parents who did know their child was overweight did things differently than those who didn't realise that weight was a problem. She says she'd encourage some of the changes these parents made, like switching from whole to lower-fat milk. But other changes - like limiting food and using dessert as a reward - may backfire in the long run, she says.
Limit TV time
The study also found that the risk of being overweight directly related to the amount of television the kids watched. While this link already has been shown in older children, Dennison says this study also shows the connection for preschool children.
Children under two shouldn't be watching any TV, according to paediatrician recommendations, she says.
Kids who watch less than five hours a week are the least likely to be overweight, the study says, while those who watch more than 30 hours of the tube each week have an obesity rate of 37 percent.
"It's the society that we live in," Zied says. "People don't have to move to do anything."
What to do
Parents need to recognise when weight becomes a problem for their children, Dennison says. If your child's weight percentile is higher than his or her height percentile, you should discuss it with the child's doctor, she says.
"It starts with the parents," concurs Zied. "Kids, especially when they're young, see what their parents do and often try to copy those behaviours."
Offer healthy foods and let kids choose what to eat, suggests Dennison. "Kids won't starve," she says, and encouraging them to overeat or join the "clean plate club" is not a good idea.
Zied agrees. "At meals, offer small portions of healthy foods," she says. "If they want more, give them more. Kids regulate themselves very well if they're left alone. If you think they're not eating enough, try not to make an issue out of it unless they are not growing well."
Both Dennison and Zied say you also need to get your kids away from the TV or the computer, and get them moving. "If you decrease TV viewing, you decrease obesity," Dennison says.
Bookmark with:
What are social bookmarks?