Nibbles for kids: Not enough obesity diagnoses, gastric bypass and diabetes and another danger of skipping breakfast
Doctors don’t do enough to identify overweight kids
With all the parents who don’t seem to see that their children are overweight, it often falls to doctors to bring a sense of reality to families. But not all doctors are doing a great job when it comes to formally diagnosing children as overweight. A study in the journal Pediatrics looked at more than 60,000 patients between the ages of 2 and 18 who had well-child visits between 1999 and 2007. Of those, 19 percent were overweight, 23 percent obese and 8 percent severely obese. But only 10 percent of overweight kids were so labeled, along with 54 percent of obese kids and 76 percent of severely obese kids. Girls, Latinos and African Americans were the most likely to be properly diagnosed.
Obese kids who snore sleepier in day
Another study in Pediatrics says that obese children who have trouble breathing at night tend to be sleepier during the day than kids who snore but aren’t overweight. Researchers from the University of Louisville say heavy kids who snore act a lot like adults with sleep apnea, suggesting that the symptoms of sleep apnea in overweight kids are different than in normal-weight kids, who tend to show more hyperactivity than sleepiness. The study involved monitoring snorers of different weights overnight and giving them opportunities to nap through the day. Overweight kids fell asleep faster than snorers of normal weight.
Gastric bypass halts diabetes in teens
When obese adolescents get weight-loss surgery, it can reduce symptoms of or even reverse diabetes, just as is does in older people who have the surgery, according to research from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Researchers looked at weight-loss surgeries performed there and at other hospitals and found that most patients had a reduction in blood glucose and other markers of diabetes a year after their surgery and 10 could no longer be called diabetic. They note, however, that that long-term safety of performing the surgery on young people is not known.
Iowa looks at cutting junk food from schools
Iowa may soon join the ranks of states that don’t allow junk food in schools, if a proposal before the state board of education is enacted. The rules would cut junk from vending machines and snack bars, but critics say they’ll just drive up lunch prices since selling the junk helps subsidize the healthier offerings, which don’t sell as well. If approved, the plan will go into effect next school year. About one in five fifth graders in Iowa are overweight.
Teens who skip breakfast more likely to have sex
Finally, another reason for parents to urge their teens to have breakfast. Apparently, Japanese research shows that teens who skip the morning meal have sex at a younger age on average than do folks who partake in breakfast. The breakfast eaters among the survey of 1,500 on average lost their virginity at 19.4, while breakfast skippers first had sex at 17.5. Teens who had bad relationships with their mothers were also more likely to have sex at a younger age. Eating breakfast has also been linked with better performance in school and less chance of obesity for teens.
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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