Myth Busters: Why Thin and Healthy Aren’t the Same Thing

In this day and age of prevalent obesity, being thin is equal to being in the prime of health, right? Not so. Although being overweight is by no means beneficial to your wellness, being skinny certainly doesn’t get you off the hook in terms of looking after your well-being. Let’s take a look at some of the myths related to weight and weight loss.

 

1. If your kids are going to shed the obesity bulge, they need to lose weight.

According to a new study, published in the journal Lancet, some kids can outgrow their obesity around puberty even if they don’t lose weight. Researchers from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health developed a mathematical model to differentiate between healthy weight gain of childhood and the extra pounds that contribute to obesity, noting that as children grow, they transform fat into muscle, which can weigh as much, if not more than fat tissue. This means that, even if your kid has a high BMI, they may not actually be overweight.

 

2. Fat people can’t be fit.

In 2012, researchers found that overweight and obese people – who were just as metabolically fit as their skinnier counterparts – had no greater risk of developing or dying from heart disease or cancer than normal people. It’s not about how fat you are, but the type of fat you’re carrying. Visceral fat is the type to watch out for, and lean people can have high levels of this fat in their tissues. Larger individuals, on the other hand, may be carrying more subcutaneous fat and so, in theory, may be metabolically fitter than those who are slimmer.

 

3. You can eat what you want and still lose weight as long as you exercise.

Sorry, folks, the best way to lose weight is still cutting calories by adjusting what you eat, especially when combined with exercise. According to Gayl Canfield, the director of nutrition at Pritikin Longevity Centre, ‘You can greatly undermine weight loss efforts and general health by not considering the quality of the foods you eat. It is important to consider calorie density and nutrient density of foods to maximize exercise performance and improve health status.’

Categories: Childhood Obesity, health, Lose weight, Metabolic Fitness, Myths, obesity, weight, Weight Loss

What Can Wales Do to Tackle Childhood Obesity Problem?

Child weight gain is a major family wellness problem in Wales, as new figures from Public Health Wales show that over 28% of five-year-olds in Wales are overweight, with 12.5% of children classed as obese. Although you might think that obesity affects the wellbeing of those in England or Scotland more than in Wales, the figures show that obesity in Wales is “significantly higher” than in every region in England, where on average 23% of children are overweight, with 9.5% classed as being obese. Only 21% of Scottish children are overweight, of which 9.8% are obese.

 

Dr Nadim Haboubi, an obesity doctor and chair of the National Obesity Forum for Wales, commented, ‘Take a look at any school photograph from the 1970s and you would hardly see any child who is overweight. Now it’s not unusual to have quite a few in each class picture. It’s also revealing that in the 70s a 10-year-old child was about 10kg lighter than the kids today. So I’m not surprised by these results, sadly. And it’s down to a combination of many things. Most important is the sedentary lifestyle. They are far less active – many parents drive them everywhere and are worried about their safety when they let them go out to play.

 

He continued, ‘Another factor is the availability of junk food and fizzy drinks – you go into a shop or garage and the availability of chocolates and sweets is shocking. And of course, there is the fact that overweight kids are more likely to have obese parents and they are more likely to carry on being overweight until adulthood. It is a huge challenge and there is not an easy solution But I think a lot more resources and attention are needed to stop this epidemic.’

 

Dr Ciaran Humphreys, consultant in public health for Public Health Wales, agreed that the findings indicate a real wellness change is needed across society. ‘This can be anything from making our communities more pedestrian and bicycle friendly to reducing access to unhealthy fast food near schools,’ he said. ‘As with most health risks, the sooner they are tackled the easier they are to address and the greater the long-term benefits. Encouraging healthy eating and regular exercise at a young age provides children with an excellent start and helps them grow up to be healthy adults.’

Categories: Childhood Obesity, Research, Wales

At-Home Child Weight Programmes Fail: What Are they Missing?

With childhood obesity at an all-time high, there has been a surge in wellness programmes designed to help children to lose weight, and guard their wellbeing against related diseases. However, according to a review of the evidence, published June 10^th in the journal Paediatrics, programmes designed to prevent childhood obesity in the home don’t affect kids’ weight a year or more down the line.

However, it’s important to bear in mind that there’s only a small number of available studies on the programmes, and so the conclusion made by the researchers doesn’t prove that such studies can’t work. According to lead author Dr. Nakiya Showell, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, ‘We need additional studies to answer this question, especially studies with greater number of participants, greater programme exposure among participants and longer participant follow-up.’

Yet the results are surprising because previous research has shown that family influence and home environment play an important role in preventing childhood obesity. For this review, the researchers looked at the six best studies on home-based programmes for kids aged between two and 18 years old. One programme revolved around diet, three included diet and exercise, and two also included primary care or school programmes.

Dr Showell commented, ‘Most programmes involved educating children and their parents or family about healthy diet and physical activity choices (i.e. increasing fruit and vegetable intake, increasing daily physical activity, decreasing TV/computer screen time, etc.).’ These studies involved comparing the programme to the results of others, or to a comparison group of kids not enrolled in any programme. The results showed that while the programmes did have some positive effects – such as getting children to eat more fruits and vegetables and exercising more –none actually affected kids’ weight or BMI.

In each study, there was the same percentage of obese or overweight children in each comparison group, but why? Why didn’t healthy behaviours reduce their weight, if home influence is so important? What were the programmes missing? While this study raised such questions, it was not so forthcoming with solutions. Showell noted, ‘In my opinion as a paediatrician and paediatric obesity researcher, home-based obesity prevention programs should include additional components beyond what is described in this particular review.’

Categories: at-home programmes, Childhood Obesity, Research