From Your Health Journal…..”What an excellent story I recently found called Homework For Parents on a great web site I like to promote regularly called Philly Blurbs – the article was written by Marion Callahan. We know that childhood obesity is on the rise. I remember some years ago the American Heart Association stating that 25 million American children were considered overweight or obese – which came out to 1 in 3 children (1 in 7 were obese). Then, shortly after, the CDC stated the prevalence of childhood obesity in the last 20 years for children ages 6-11 had doubled, and nearly tripled for adolescences ages 12-18. These numbers are staggering. Please take the time to view this complete article (link provided below) – as well as reading some great tips from the CDC which include how to limit TV or technology time, how to eat more fruits / vegetables, how to reduce sugar intake, and why it is important to serve healthy portion sizes to children (not adult sizes). Sometimes, articles like this may appear obvious to many readers, but a gentle reminder once in a while about healthy lifestyle is important!”

From the article…..

Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.

The percentage of U.S. children aged 6 to 11 who were obese increased from 7 percent in 1980 to nearly 20 percent in 2008.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the body mass index, commonly called the BMI, as one of the best methods to gauge overweight and obesity. Knowing your child’s BMI can help gauge whether he’s at the proper weight, is underweight or overweight — but that is only one part of the puzzle.

For example, a child may have a high BMI for her age and gender, but a health care provider would have to do a further assessment to determine if excess fat is a problem. And while a BMI percentile won’t tell you if your child has or will get a disease, you should ask your family doctor whether your child’s BMI and other factors put him at risk for certain diseases like diabetes.

Overweight and obesity are defined differently for adults than they are for children. The adult calculation uses only height and weight. Since children are still growing — and boys and girls develop at different rates — the BMI for children ages 2 to 20 years old is determined by using a BMI calculation plus growth charts. The growth charts use a child’s BMI, age and sex to produce a BMI percentile.

A child’s BMI percentile shows how his or her BMI compares to other boys or girls of the same age. A child or teen who is between the 85th and 95th percentile on the growth chart is considered at risk of being overweight. A child or teen who is at the 95th percentile or above is considered obese.

For more information about BMI percentile and growth charts for children, visit www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/bmi-for-age.htm.

The CDC offers these tips for parents trying to prevent their children from becoming overweight or obese:

To read the full article…..Click here