What used to be considered an adults-only problems - Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol - are showing up in adolescents.
Today, more than 12.5 million children - 17.1 percent of children and adolescents 2 to 19 years of age - are overweight in the United States, up from 13 percent in 1999, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Loise Gilmer, pediatric dietitian and diabetes educator at Scott & White, has been a dietician for 20 years and says she has seen a big increase in Type 2 diabetes in children during the last five years.
“This affects the whole family and there has to be a family-wide change,” Mrs. Gilmer said.
One of the challenges families face is structure, particularly in the summer, she said.
School provides structure. Children have to get up in the morning for breakfast at a certain time and lunch is served at specific times, Mrs. Gilmer said. Many parents don’t think to structure their children’s time during the summer, so the youngsters stay up late, sleep late, watch TV, play video games.
“Food and TV are great babysitters,” Mrs. Gilmer said.
Studies show that those who don’t get up with the sun, or go to bed when the sun sets have less activity in their lives, she said.
There’s more weight gain in the summer, Mrs. Gilmore said, because there’s a tendency to be more sedentary and eat more at night, especially when snacking while watching TV.
“There’s not a lot of active play,” she said. “There’s more food available and they can grab snacks anytime.”
Children aren’t encouraged to go outside and play because parents want them at home safe. However, it’s possible to organize a child’s time with things to do - summer camps or play dates with friends that keep children active and safe.
“Parents may be tired when they get home from work, but I promise you nobody gets exercise unless they go out and get it,” Mrs. Gilmer said.
Temple’s Parks and Recreation Department offers a number of youth activities during the summer, including basketball, volleyball and dance camps.
One excuse that’s often heard is that summers are hot in Texas and parents don’t want to send their children out to play in the heat.
“What did they do before air-conditioning? … People were outside all the time,” Mrs. Gilmer said. “Give your children some water and put sunscreen on them … kids are pretty adaptable.”
Swimming can be a great activity and great exercise, she said, assuming the children aren’t just standing in the water or lying out by the pool.
Temple pools will begin to open for the summer months on May 24.
The success of families of overweight children who are sent to dieticians for counseling is determined by how open they are to change, Mrs. Gilmer said. How the parents react to the dietician’s suggestions is dependent on how much thought they have put into it before the first appointment.
When faced with providing a different diet and making sure the child is getting exercise, some parents will resist making the required changes, Mrs. Gilmer said. Others families will be eager to change whatever is necessary.
“I just want to get them to the next level, which might be to get them thinking about it and following that, taking action,” she said.
The easiest way to keep children from eating unhealthy snacks is not to bring it into the house. Also, determining an appropriate snacktime is important.
“When you have a structure and support it, kids will learn when and what they can eat,” Mrs. Gilmer said.
Sweet drinks including colas and fruit juices are popular and pack a lot of calories.
“I’ve had parents say their kids love V8 Splash,” she said. “What they did was take V8, a low-calorie drink, and added fruit juice, making it high-calorie.”
It’s a matter of taking baby steps.
Mrs. Gilmer said she starts with proportion sizes, teaching parents what’s considered a normal size - a handful.
“I’m finding children are eating whole meals for snacks,” she said.
She then moves on to suggesting healthier snacks - fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
“Those have to come from home and are not going to be found anywhere else,” Mrs. Gilmer said.
“It’s not just how many calories,” she said. “It’s what those calories are made of.”
Dealing with the problem of overweight children is far reaching. As the population of overweight children grows, so will the number of sick young adults.
The younger a person is when diagnosed with diabetes, Type 1 of Type 2, the worse off it is because of the time element.
“Over time, diabetes wreaks havoc on your body and the older you are when you get it, the less time you have in your life to develop those issues,” Mrs. Gilmer said.
In addition to diabetes, being overweight increases the risk of kidney problems, liver disease, sleep apnea, ovarian cysts and bone disease.
And there are the social problems, she said. Overweight children can be depressed and miss out in social situations because they feel isolated.
One item that usually gets the attention of a parent is the possibility of their child remaining at home well into adulthood because of illness.
“I tell them (the parent) they’re going to be taking care of the kid instead of the kid taking care of them,” Mrs. Gilmer said.
There is a movement nationally to look at efforts to bring awareness to the problem of overweight children, she said.
It’s been shown that campaigns targeting youth work - when smoking cessation is touted the number of smokers drop.
It’s going to require involvement from the schools through the education of healthy lifestyles and physical activity and doctors recognizing the problem early, she said.
