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Overview

Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. It's particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start children on the path to health problems that were once considered adult problems - diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Childhood obesity can also lead to poor self-esteem and depression.

One of the best strategies to reduce childhood obesity is to improve the eating and exercise habits of your entire family. Treating and preventing childhood obesity helps protect your child's health now and in the future.

Symptoms

Not all children carrying extra pounds are overweight. Some children have larger than average body frames. And children normally carry different amounts of body fat at the various stages of development. So you might not know by how your child looks if weight is a health concern.

The body mass index (BMI), which provides a guideline of weight in relation to height, is the accepted measure of overweight and obesity. Your child's doctor can use growth charts, the BMI and, if necessary, other tests to help you figure out if your child's weight could pose health problems.

When to see a doctor

If you're worried that your child is putting on too much weight, talk to his or her doctor. The doctor will consider your child's history of growth and development, your family's weight-for-height history, and where your child lands on the growth charts. This can help determine if your child's weight is in an unhealthy range.

Causes

Lifestyle issues - too little activity and too many calories from food and drinks - are the main contributors to childhood obesity. But genetic and hormonal factors might play a role as well.

Risk factors

Many factors - usually working in combination - increase your child's risk of becoming overweight:

Diet. Regularly eating high-calorie foods, such as fast foods, baked goods and vending machine snacks, can cause your child to gain weight. Candy and desserts also can cause weight gain, and more and more evidence points to sugary drinks, including fruit juices and sports drinks, as culprits in obesity in some people.

Lack of exercise. Children who don't exercise much are more likely to gain weight because they don't burn as many calories. Too much time spent in sedentary activities, such as watching television or playing video games, also contributes to the problem. TV shows also often feature ads for unhealthy foods.

Family factors. If your child comes from a family of overweight people, he or she may be more likely to put on weight. This is especially true in an environment where high-calorie foods are always available and physical activity isn't encouraged.

Psychological factors. Personal, parental and family stress can increase a child's risk of obesity. Some children overeat to cope with problems or to deal with emotions, such as stress, or to fight boredom. Their parents might have similar tendencies.

Socioeconomic factors. People in some communities have limited resources and limited access to supermarkets. As a result, they might buy convenience foods that don't spoil quickly, such as frozen meals, crackers and cookies. Also, people who live in lower income neighborhoods might not have access to a safe place to exercise.

Certain medications. Some prescription drugs can increase the risk of developing obesity. They include prednisone, lithium, amitriptyline, paroxetine (Paxil), gabapentin (Neurontin, Gralise, Horizant) and propranolol (Inderal, Hemangeol).

Complications

Childhood obesity often causes complications in a child's physical, social and emotional well-being.

Physical complications

Physical complications of childhood obesity may include:

Type 2 diabetes. This chronic condition affects the way your child's body uses sugar (glucose). Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

High cholesterol and high blood pressure. A poor diet can cause your child to develop one or both of these conditions. These factors can contribute to the buildup of plaques in the arteries, which can cause arteries to narrow and harden, possibly leading to a heart attack or stroke later in life.

Joint pain. Extra weight causes extra stress on hips and knees. Childhood obesity can cause pain and sometimes injuries in the hips, knees and back.

Breathing problems. Asthma is more common in children who are overweight. These children are also more likely to develop obstructive sleep apnea, a potentially serious disorder in which a child's breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This disorder, which usually causes no symptoms, causes fatty deposits to build up in the liver. NAFLD can lead to scarring and liver damage.

Social and emotional complications

Children who have obesity may experience teasing or bullying by their peers. This can result in a loss of self-esteem and an increased risk of depression and anxiety.

Prevention

To help prevent excess weight gain in your child, you can:

Set a good example. Make healthy eating and regular physical activity a family affair. Everyone will benefit and no one will feel singled out.

Have healthy snacks available. Options include air-popped popcorn without butter, fruits with low-fat yogurt, baby carrots with hummus, or whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk.

Offer new foods multiple times. Don't be discouraged if your child doesn't immediately like a new food. It usually takes multiple exposures to a food to gain acceptance.

Choose nonfood rewards. Promising candy for good behavior is a bad idea.

Be sure your child gets enough sleep. Some studies indicate that too little sleep may increase the risk of obesity. Sleep deprivation can cause hormonal imbalances that lead to increased appetite.

Also, be sure your child sees the doctor for well-child checkups at least once a year. During this visit, the doctor measures your child's height and weight and calculates his or her BMI. A significant increase in your child's BMI percentile rank over one year may be a possible sign that your child is at risk of becoming overweight.

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Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. It's particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start children on the path to health problems that were once considered adult problems - diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Childhood obesity can also lead to poor self-esteem and depression.

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HUM-FNW-5 Analyze the effects of food eating
behaviors on wellness.

5.6 Determine strategies to lower intake of fat,
sodium, caffeine, and sugar.

5.7 Determine strategies to avoid/prevent cancer,
heart disease, obesity, and common nutrient deficiencies.

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Mrs. Wood's Food, Nutrition & Wellness Class

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Mrs. Wood's Food, Nutrition & Wellness Class

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Today we are going to apply some of the information from Food Labels to examine sugar in foods.

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Now we will look at the food labels of common foods you eat on a daily basis.

What are some of the common sugary foods you eat daily?

1.  With a partner (your teacher will help you find a partner), complete the graph provided by your teacher using food labels in class.

2.  Use the following formula to calculate teaspoons of sugar per item.

3.  Create a poster with pictures of the products, plastic bags of sugar, and neat text (hand-written or typed).

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Sweet things aren't so sweet for your body

Do you have a sweet tooth? Most of us will overindulge at times. But the more sugar we consume, the more we want, says Mark Hyman, MD.

However, the good news is that people can break the sugar addiction in 10 days. Here's how.

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Sweet things aren't so sweet for your body Do you have a sweet tooth? Most of us will overindulge at times. But the more sugar we consume, the more we want, says Mark Hyman, MD. However, the good news is that people can break the sugar addiction in 10 days.

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Was this a commercial endorsed by the Coca Cola company?

What was your initial reaction to the commercial?

Name one thing you learned from the commercial?

Can we believe everything in this commercial?

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Research one of the following articles with your table.  Each group member will have one of the following jobs: 1).  Leader  2).  Note-taker  3).  Reader  4).  Editor  5). Runner.  Prepare a poster on construction paper to present your findings to the class.   Please include 2 pictures, neat edges, and legible font.

Article 1

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A sugar-laden diet may raise your risk of dying of heart disease even if you aren't overweight. So says a major study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Added sugars make up at least 10% of the calories the average American eats in a day. But about one in 10 people get a whopping one-quarter or more of their calories from added sugar.

Over the course of the 15-year study on added sugar and heart disease, participants who took in 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those whose diets included less than 10% added sugar. Overall, the odds of dying from heart disease rose in tandem with the percentage of sugar in the diet-and that was true regardless of a person's age, sex, physical activity level, and body-mass index (a measure of weight).

Sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas, energy drinks, and sports drinks are by far the biggest sources of added sugar in the average American's diet. They account for more than one-third of the added sugar we consume as a nation. Other important sources include cookies, cakes, pastries, and similar treats; fruit drinks; ice cream, frozen yogurt and the like; candy; and ready-to-eat cereals.

Nutritionists frown on added sugar for two reasons. One is its well-known links to weight gain and cavities. The other is that sugar delivers "empty calories" - calories unaccompanied by fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Too much added sugar can crowd healthier foods from a person's diet.

Could it be possible that sugar isn't the true bad guy boosting heart disease risk, but that it's the lack of heart-healthy foods like fruits and veggies? Apparently not. In this study, the researchers measured the participants' Healthy Eating Index. This shows how well their diets match up to federal dietary guidelines. Regardless of their Healthy Eating Index scores, people who ate more sugar still had higher cardiovascular mortality.

Exactly how excess sugar might harm the heart isn't clear. Earlier research has shown that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages can raise blood pressure. A high-sugar diet may also stimulate the liver to dump more harmful fats into the bloodstream. Both factors are known to boost heart disease risk.

Federal guidelines offer specific limits for the amount of salt and fat we eat. But there's no similar upper limit for added sugar. According to the American Heart Association's recommendation, women should consume less than 100 calories of added sugar per day (about 6 teaspoons) and men should consume less than 150 per day (about 9 teaspoons).

To put that in perspective, a 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 9 teaspoons of sugar, so quaffing even one a day would put all women and most men over the daily limit.

If you're going to have something sweet, have a fruit-based dessert. That way, at least you're getting something good out of it. Of course, plain fruit with no added sugar is ideal. If you're trying to curb a soda habit, mix a little fruit juice with seltzer water as a replacement.

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Eating too much added sugar increases the risk of dying with heart disease - Harvard Health Blog

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A sugar-laden diet may raise your risk of dying of heart disease even if you aren't overweight. So says a major study published in JAMA Internal Medicine . Added sugars make up at least 10% of the calories the average American eats in a day.

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Most people know that eating too much dessert and processed food can contribute to physical health problems like obesity and type 2 diabetes. Far less attention, however, has been given to the impact of a high-sugar diet on mental health, even though numerous studies have shown the deleterious effects a sweet tooth can have on mood, learning and quality of life. In addition to inflating waistlines, sugar and other sweeteners, including high fructose corn syrup, honey, molasses and maple syrup, may contribute to a number of mental health problems:
1. Depression
The roller coaster of high blood sugar followed by a crash may accentuate the symptoms of mood disorders. Research has tied heavy sugar consumption to an increased risk of depression and worse outcomes in individuals with schizophrenia. There are a couple theories explaining the link. For starters, sugar suppresses activity of a hormone called BDNF that is low in individuals with depression and schizophrenia. Sugar is also at the root of chronic inflammation, which impacts the immune system, the brain, and other systems in the body; inflammation has also been implicated in depression. Interestingly, countries with high sugar intake also have a high rate of depression.
2. Addiction
Although controversial, a growing body of evidence points to the addictive potential of sugar. Both drugs and-to a lesser extent-sugar and processed junk foods flood the brain with the feel-good chemical dopamine, which, over time, changes the function of the brain. In a study by researchers at Yale University, the simple sight of a milkshake activated the same reward centers of the brain as cocaine among people with addictive eating habits. A 2007 study showed that rats actually prefer sugar water to cocaine. Rats given fatty and sugary products demonstrated classic symptoms of addiction, including tolerance and withdrawal symptoms when the products were taken away.
3. Anxiety
The standard American diet, which is full of sugar and fat, does not necessarily cause anxiety, but it does appear to worsen anxiety symptoms and impair the body's ability to cope with stress. Individuals who suffer from panic attacks, for example, are hyper-alert to signs of impending danger. Sugar can cause blurry vision, difficulty thinking, and fatigue, all of which may be interpreted as signs of a panic attack, thereby increasing worry and fear. A sugar high and subsequent crash can cause shaking and tension, which can make anxiety worse.

Research has established a correlation between sugar intake and anxiety. In a 2008 study, rats that binged on sugar and then fasted displayed anxiety; in a 2009 study, rats fed sucrose compared to high- antioxidant honey were more likely to suffer anxiety. While dietary changes alone cannot cure anxiety, they can minimize symptoms, boost energy and improve the body's ability to cope with stress.
4. Learning and Memory
Sugar may also compromise cognitive abilities such as learning and memory. In an animal study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, six weeks of taking a fructose solution (similar to soda) caused the rats to forget their way out of a maze, whereas rats that ate a nutritious diet and those that consumed a high-fructose diet that also included omega-3 fatty acids found their way out faster. The high sugar diet caused insulin resistance, which in turn damaged communications between brain cells that fuel learning and memory formation.

Recognizing these and other risks, the trends in sugar consumption seem to be changing. People are consuming less sugar-about 13 percent of their daily calories-which is still far too much, but clear progress from 18 percent just over a decade ago. Our bodies were never intended to handle the amount of sugar that has become the norm in the American diet, but at least now we're beginning to recognize that the mind and body are intricately connected and both must be nurtured to achieve optimal health.

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4 Ways Sugar Could Be Harming Your Mental Health

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Most people know that eating too much dessert and processed food can contribute to physical health problems like obesity and type 2 diabetes. Far less attention, however, has been given to the impact of a high-sugar diet on mental health, even though numerous studies have shown the deleterious effects a sweet tooth can have on mood, learning and quality of life.

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Can you get addicted to sugar? Do you need to quit it cold turkey? Here are expert answers.
From the WebMD Archives

Recently, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres declared that she was going on a sugar cleanse, purging her diet of all refined sugars to boost her well-being. While naturally occurring sugars, such as the kind found in sugar snap peas, were still OK to eat, no one was going to catch Ellen letting a Bundt cake cross her lips.

Her sugar cleanse diet inspired many viewers to embark on their own sugar smackdowns. Is this the latest food fad, or are the sugar naysayers on to something?

We don't need to go cold turkey on sugar, health experts tell WebMD. But most of us would do well to lighten up on the sweet stuff.

Is sugar addictive?

A coworker with an unshakable candy bar habit might sigh that she's utterly addicted to sweets. Can someone truly become physically dependent on sugar?

Sugar taps into a powerful human preference for sweet taste, says Marcia Pelchat, PhD, a scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a basic research institute in Philadelphia. "We're born to like sugar," she says.

"Sugar does seem to be special in some ways," Pelchat says, even in the womb. Doctors used to treat the problem of excessive amniotic fluid by injecting a sweet substance into the liquid, she says. The appealing taste would prompt the fetus to swallow more fluid, which was then flushed out through the umbilical cord and the mother's kidneys.

Not only do infants prefer sweet tastes, but when babies drink a sweet solution, it can ease pain through a natural analgesic effect in the body, Pelchat says.

Way back, the preference for sugar may have conferred an evolutionary advantage by leading people to seek out ripe fruits, which are sweet and serve as a good source of calories, she says.

But nowadays, is the coworker's constant hankering for sugar merely a strong liking or is it a true addiction, with physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms?

"The jury's still out," Pelchat says. Scientists aren't sure if people can become physically dependent on sugar, although some animal studies suggest that such a thing is possible, she says. "There are the same kinds of changes in brain dopamine, in these animals given intermittent access to sugar, as in drug addicts."

Unlike with substance abuse, people don't get the shakes when they stop eating sugar. But people with constant sugar cravings do exhibit one symptom of dependence, Pelchat says: "continued use despite knowledge of bad consequences or having to give up certain activities." For instance, people who crave sugary, fatty foods will keep eating them even if obesity makes it uncomfortable to walk or to sit in an economy seat on the plane.

Continued

Can sugar worsen cholesterol?

Researchers have found a link between sugar and unhealthy levels of blood fats. "There's an association between added sugar intake and what we call dyslipidemia -- higher triglycerides and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol, says Rachel K. Johnson, RD, MPH, PhD, a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association (AHA).

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), people who ate the largest amounts of added sugar had the highest blood triglyceride levels and the lowest HDL (good) cholesterol levels. That study also showed that eating lots of sugar more than tripled the odds of having low HDL cholesterol levels, a strong risk factor for heart disease.

In contrast, people who ate the least sugar had the lowest triglyceride levels and highest HDL levels, a protective factor against heart disease.

But "the study doesn't prove that added sugars cause dyslipidemia," says Johnson, who wasn't involved in the JAMA study.

Johnson says that to prove that sugar causes problems with blood fats, scientists would have to conduct a clinical trial in which some people ate a diet high in added sugar and others ate a diet low in added sugar. Then researchers would track their triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Such a study would be expensive and hard to carry out, she says.

However, Johnson points out that weight did not explain the JAMA findings. " Obesity is obviously related to dyslipidemia, but based on the JAMA paper, the added sugars had an independent effect, separate and distinct from the added sugars' impact on weight," she says.

Does sugar cause diabetes?

"Eating sugar per se does not cause diabetes," Johnson says. But large, epidemiological research has shown an association between intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and diabetes, she says.

The real culprit may be obesity. "It may be because the sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with higher BMIs or associated with overweight and obesity, which we know is a risk factor for diabetes," Johnson says.

Is sugar affecting children's health?

Pediatricians are concerned that too much sugar is in their young patients' diets, Kavey says. But again, sugar by itself is not the problem, she says, but rather the excess pounds.

Continued

"The reason that we think of it as a problem is because of the big rise in obesity in childhood, and that rise has occurred over the same time period that there's been a major increase in the amount of simple sugar that children consume," Kavey says. Juices, sodas, sweetened cereals, cookies, and candy are common sources of sugar in children's diets.

But other factors -- like spending a lot of sedentary time with computers rather than running around and playing -- may also contribute to childhood obesity.

What about the notion that sugar makes some children hyperactive?

"In my own experience, I know there are some children who are very sensitive to sugar. They really are quite wild after they have sugar," Kavey says. "But that's not proof. The literature on it is not conclusive at all."

Are some types of sugar better than others?

Celebrities and high-profile chefs have touted the benefits of replacing refined white sugar with purportedly more natural, healthier sugars, such as honey, maple syrup, or molasses.

But there's no truth to these common misconceptions, Johnson says. "In terms of something being inherently better about those sweeteners as opposed to table sugar or sucrose -- no." The bottom line: All are simple sugars.

"A calorie of sugar is a calorie of sugar, so whether you're getting it from white sugar or some other type of sweetener, you're still adding empty calories to your diet," Johnson says.

However, there may be one redeeming quality, she says. "Some of those sweeteners -- like maple syrup, molasses, honey -- may have a stronger taste, so you might be able to get the sweetness that you want with less of it, using less calories."

What about substituting artificial sweeteners? Despite public worries that they might cause cancer, "They've been approved as safe by the FDA and I think that they can be a good tool to lower the calories in your diet," Johnson says. "But you need to be careful that it's about the total calories. You always hear about the person who puts the non-nutritive sweetener in their coffee and then has a piece of cheesecake."

Continued

How much sugar does the average American eat?

Sugar shows up naturally in lots of foods, but those aren't the types of sugars in the spotlight. Instead, it's the sugar in the doughnuts and sodas or even in the maple syrup that we drizzle onto our pancakes.

"We do know that Americans are consuming way too much added sugars," Johnson says. "These are the sugars that are added to foods in processing or preparation. They're not the naturally occurring sugars, like fructose in fruit or lactose in milk or dairy products."

Johnson led the team of experts that wrote the AHA's 2009 scientific statement on added sugars and cardiovascular health. The report pointed to sodas and other sugar-sweetened drinks as the main source of added sugars in Americans' diets.

From 2001 to 2004, the report noted, Americans consumed lots of sugar: an average of 22 teaspoons a day, the equivalent of 355 calories.

Eating too much sugar can create two main problems, Johnson says. "It either adds calories to your diet or it displaces other nutritious foods. Most Americans could benefit from reducing the amount of added sugars in their diet."

However, none of the experts who spoke to WebMD advocated that people try to purge all added sugars from their diets. By itself, sugar is not a risky food, says Rae-Ellen W. Kavey, MD, MPH, a pediatrics professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. "The focus should be on a healthful approach," she says, "not people rushing to one side or the other."

Moderation is key, experts say. For example, the AHA statement recommends that women limit themselves to about 6 teaspoons of sugar a day, or about 100 calories. Men should aim for about 9 teaspoons a day, or 150 calories. Just how much sugar is that? A 12-oz. can of regular soda contains eight teaspoons of sugar, or about 130 calories.

Sources

SOURCES:

Rachel K. Johnson, RD, MPH, PhD, professor of nutrition, University of Vermont; spokeswoman, American Heart Association.

Rae-Ellen W. Kavey, MD, MPH, professor of pediatrics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Marcia Pelchat, PhD, scientist, Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Johnson, R. Circulation, Aug. 24, 2009; vol 120; pp 1011-1020.

American Heart Association: "Sugars and Carbohydrates."

Welsh, J. The Journal of the American Medical Association, April 21, 2010; vol 303: pp 1490-1497.

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Sugar Health Effects: Is Refined Sugar Bad For You?

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Can you get addicted to sugar? Do you need to quit it cold turkey? Here are expert answers. From the WebMD Archives Recently, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres declared that she was going on a sugar cleanse, purging her diet of all refined sugars to boost her well-being.