https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220907105453.htm?utm_campaign=Friday%20Favorites&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=230513745&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-__fiHLmVu7gUl3GUFjJE1MZy9ZdyOlFRCSgjUcTpuhUWYK-FzPO8JZfrZ0Dajj2tLT5KkoGxk5T4uXXP8Igq1YpDnQYw&utm_content=230513745&utm_source=hs_email
It's a delicate topic to broach because emotions often run high and the concern over the less-than-robust mental health of our teens in general often leads us to dodge important questions about habits, especially poor habits where change would be beneficial. Nutritional habits, however, have been under increasing scrutiny in light of the recent recommendation concerning the increased prevalence of severe childhood obesity, and the drastic recommendation to make even preteen children eligible for weight loss drugs and bariatric surgery.
Current stats indicate that 20% of US children are in the moderate to severe obesity category. That's a whopping one in five children. This does not include the remainder of children may be in the mild obesity, with the BMI between 23 and 30, which is still alarming in terms of health outcomes. The medical profession now is obviously raising the question of the metabolic consequences of these statistics, such as hypertension, kidney disease, etc. From a clinical perspective in my daily practice, I also see another side of this high BMI + malnutrition complex: children who have poor skeletal and soft tissue structures because of the lack of appropriate nutrients which have been displaced by empty calories; poor recovery from relatively minor injuries; chronic fatigue; and mood changes associated with nutritional deficiencies.
It's a very complicated topic to which no one can do justice in a blog entry. However I wanted to bring up this paper because it highlights an issue to which we have been desensitized. Kids, especially kids in the developing world and even more so in the US, eat a stunning amount of junk food. It has no nutrients, and it has been engineered by the food industry to be highly palatable with additives that trigger very targeted brain responses, causing children to be addicted to to these foods. There is currently a level of tolerance to junk food in our children that is not serving them well. The idea that kids should be able to splurge, have dessert, enjoy "treat foods", is out of control. What used to be a once-in-a-while event, a couple of times a year for special occasions like birthdays, is now creeping up in the kids’ daily diet. But it's time to recognize that those foods are not as innocuous as we think they are, and they may well be "gateway foods", the equivalent of gateway drugs: foods that create levels of dependence and addiction leading to a vicious cycle of increased craving and consumption.
I also recognize that this blog entry is not going to be a platform to outline a complete solution, especially for parents who struggle with the complex issues of children exposed to food influences outside the home that are hard to combat. But it is intended as an encouragement for those parents who are convinced that they should limit their kids’ access to junk food because you are doing the right thing and not overreacting. Leading scientists in the field are supporting your instinct to protect your children. I hope this article will give you some robust data to have discussions with your children, your family, and anybody else who is involved in your children's diet.
