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New Proof About Obesity's Effects | Send Feedback
For several years, medical experts have predicted that childhood obesity would cause the current generation of children to live shorter lives than those of their parents. Up until recently, this prediction of premature death had been based on anecdotal evidence rather than verifiable research. This speculation became "fact" with the publication of an article in the February 2010 issue of the "New England Journal of Medicine."
The publication referenced a landmark study that tracked thousands of children through adulthood. It found that obese children with a condition known as "pre-diabetes" were more than twice as likely as the thinnest to die before age 55 of illness or self-inflected injury. The study which analyzed data collected from 4,857 non-diabetic Indians born between 1945 and 1984. The data were collected when the youngsters were (on average) 11 years old and it assessed the extent to which body mass index (BMI), glucose tolerance, blood pressure and total cholesterol levels predicted premature death.
An Indian Community Was an Excellent Research Lab
This research was conducted among the Pima and Tohono O'odham Indians which live in the Gila River Indian community in Arizona. While American Indians are not representative of the nation's population as a whole, they represent a unique test case because researchers determined that their rate of obesity and Type 2 diabetes began to dramatically rise about two decades before weight problems became widespread among the general population of other Americans. As such, this population presents a rare opportunity to get a glimpse of what might be the future.
The study began in 1945 and by 2003, 559 participants had died, including 166 who died of causes other than accidents and homicide. This would include cardiovascular disease, cancer, infections, diabetes, drug overdose, alcohol poisoning and liver disease brought on by alcohol abuse. The researchers noted that the (relatively) large number of alcohol-related liver disease deaths could have been the result of diabetes.
Adults in this community who had the highest body mass index scores as children were 2.3 times as likely to have died early as those with the lowest BMI scores. Those with the highest glucose levels were 73% as likely to have died prematurely
BMI and Obesity
Public health experts estimate that one in three American children is now considered to be either overweight or obese. On its website the Center for Disease Control and Prevention defines body mass index, or BMI, as the measure of body fat based on height and weight of an individual. It considers a person as "obese" if they are in the 95th percentile or higher in the total population.
There is a simple BMI calculator on the Department of Health and Human Services website (http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/) where an individual can enter height and weight and obtain body mass index figure. The CDC has set the following BMI categories:
- BMI of less than 18.5 is considered underweight
- BMI of 18.5 - 24.9 is considered normal
- BMI of 25 - 29.9 is considered overweight
- BMI of 30 or greater is considered obese
Using the online calculator, it was found that a person 6 feet tall, who weighs 180 pounds has a BMI of 24.4. This would qualify this person as normal. It should be noted that there has been some disagreement about the value of BMI rates among medical researchers. However, it is a commonly accepted measurement tool and was the basis of this Gila River Indian community study.
Other Interesting Findings of This Study
In addition to the effect of childhood obesity on premature death in this community, the researchers discovered some surprises. They found that high blood pressure in childhood was only a weak predictor of early death. With regard to the effect of high cholesterol on early death in this group, they found that this was not a factor. They noted that both of these conditions were easier to control with medication than the impaired glucose or pre-diabetic condition.
A Grim Conclusion From This Report
This research should be a wake up call to parents who have children who might be "a little chunky" or "happily plump." Most parents do not want to admit that their child might be overweight or obese and as a result they are slowly killing their kids.
Allowing the consumption massive quantities of empty-calorie fast food, snacks and soft drinks along with virtually no physical activity have made this generation of kids chronically unhealthy. If this does not change, the facts of this research suggest that many of these youngsters will be dead of diseases associated with obesity by age 55.
Later----
The CLUE