Is This The Real Reason For Childhood Obesity?
Well, they say the first step to overcoming a problem is to admit you have one.
But a new study shows that both children and parents usually underestimate the kid’s weight condition.
In a group of 104 children being treated for type 2 diabetes, researchers at the Vanderbilt Eskind Pediatric Diabetes Clinic found that the kids and their parents didn’t even recognize the child’s obesity problem.
And this is for kids who are already being treated for diabetes, which includes education about nutrition and exercise.
So if these parents don’t see the problem, how likely are the rest of us to recognize an obesity problem with our kids?
Surprisingly, the parents were more likely to underestimate their children’s weight than the kids were. And girls underestimated their weight more often than boys.
Of the children surveyed in this group, 87% were considered to be obese by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) standards. But only 41% of the parents and 35% of the kids saw themselves as “very overweight.”
Maybe we just all like to think of our kids as having baby fat that will go away as they grow older. Or maybe too many of us are overweight ourselves and in denial about that, too.
Whatever the reason, the researchers concluded that doctors and other health care providers need to communicate more clearly how overweight these kids are, then work with the families to set realistic goals to make healthy lifestyle changes.
At least in these cases, it appears that recognizing the problem of childhood obesity is the first step toward solving it.
Technorati Tags: childhood obesity, overweight
