According to the latest research, obesity rates among
American preschoolers declined by 43 percent in the past
decade
No reduction in obesity rates was found among any other age
group, however; obesity rates for women over the age of 60
actually rose by about 21 percent
One in eight preschoolers is still in the obese category,
along with 18 percent of kids aged six to 11—up from seven
percent in 1980
Federal policies have not budged when it comes to issues
that matter the most, or could have the greatest impact,
such as reducing subsidies to growers of genetically
engineered sugar beets, corn, and soy
Agricultural subsidies and other federal policies actively
promote the production of cheap unhealthy processed junk
foods that promote obesity and ill health
By Dr. Mercola
America is as obese as it possibly can be, yet the government
and media refuse to take responsibility for this tragic problem.
Although obesity rates among American preschoolers declined by
43 percent in the past decade, teenage and adult obesity are
deplorable and show no signs of improvement.1
These findings were broadcast on all of the nation's major
news stations and in most major newspapers2,
3,
4 with many claiming "victory" in the fight against
childhood obesity. While this all sounds like good news, I
disagree with such proclamations.
The study, published in JAMA,5
found that obesity rates among two- to five-year olds dropped
from 14 percent in 2003 to eight percent in 2012. The
researchers suggest that decreased consumption of high-calorie
drinks and higher rates of breast feeding might account for the
decline.
No reduction in obesity rates was found among any other age
group, however. And obesity rates for women over the age of 60
actually rose by about 21 percent. Eventually, nearly all
Americans end up obese which contributes to a lifetime of
chronic disease.
Americans Have Far from Conquered Obesity
One-third of American children and teens (aged two to 19),
and more than two-thirds of adults are still
either overweight or obese. One out of eight preschoolers is
still in the obese category, along with 18 percent of kids aged
six to 11—up from seven percent in 1980.6
From my perspective, we're still FAR from being in a position
to jump for joy or pat ourselves on the back. The study authors
themselves concluded:
"Overall, there have been no significant changes in
obesity prevalence in youth or adults between 2003-2004 and
2011-2012. Obesity prevalence remains high and thus it is
important to continue surveillance."
While it may sound promising that overall obesity rates have
"stabilized," what that REALLY means is that we have maxed out,
we are as fat as we can possibly be as a nation, and show no
signs of improvement.
Other statistics clearly show that Americans, including
children, are sicker than ever, and it's absolutely obvious that
this is a direct result of corrupted federal policies and the
junk food industry marketing to kids, getting them addicted to
sugar as soon as possible with famous cartoon characters and
flashy images. Don't be fooled by this latest PR stunt to make
you think they're finally getting something right.
The
anti-obesity campaign is NOT working. And while some
reporters have stated that the drop in obesity among toddlers is
due to successful physical fitness programs, such as First Lady
Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Campaign (which launched
in 2010), I fail to see this connection.
Improved breastfeeding rates are the most likely primary factor
contributing to the decline seen in this age group (two- to
five-year olds). This is the one area I can appreciate, after
decades of disastrous infant formula marketing to new moms, it
appears we are finally acknowledging the critical value of
breastfeeding.
According to the CDC,7
the percent of babies breastfeeding at six months increased from
35 percent in 2000 to 49 percent in 2010, and infants still
breastfeeding at 12 months increased from 16 percent to 27
percent during that same time period. While most infant
formulas are about 50% carbohydrates, breast milk is naturally
around 18%, which is the obvious problem that contributes to
infant obesity.
Federal policies have not budged when it comes to
issues that matter the most, or could have the greatest impact.
Subsidizing the growing of genetically engineered (GE) corn,
soy, and sugar beets continues to fuel the production of cheap,
processed junk food that fatten us up and cause cascading health
problems, courtesy of the insulin resistance such a diet brings.
Subsidizing the growing of GE soy and corn for hydrogenated
vegetable oils is the primary source of clogged arteries leading
to countless unnecessary heart attacks.
The combination of junk food manufacturers, pesticide
producers' agriculture lobbying, and the willingness of our
federal politicians to be lobbied because of their greed for
money and power has not changed one bit in the past decade. If
anything, it's only gotten more insidious.
New USDA Rule May Stop Soda and Junk Food Advertising in Schools
As a general rule, the beverage industry also still denies or
strongly downplays its role in the childhood obesity epidemic,
despite the fact that beverage companies spend over $1 billion
annually on youth-targeted marketing—especially in school
settings—and sodas have been repeatedly shown to massively
promote obesity in study after study.
Hopefully, we'll soon see a reduction in junk food
advertising in schools at least. First Lady Michelle Obama
recently announced a new US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
rule that would phase out advertising of sugary drinks and junk
food on school grounds. Historically, the junk food industry
always finds a way to buy their way back into schools as a
desperately needed source of revenues. As reported by NBC News:8
"US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the new
rules would eliminate marketing for products that cannot be
sold in schools. 'If you can't sell it, you ought not to be
able to market it,' Vilsack said. He said companies spend
$149 million a year on marketing food and drinks to kids in
school...
The Federal Trade Commission says the heaviest
marketers are candy and snack food manufacturers, beverage
companies, and fast food restaurants, which make use of
posters and scoreboards. They also give students coupons,
for instance offering pizza as a prize for students who read
a certain number of books, and they place advertisements in
school television programs and other educational materials.
California banned sodas and junk food from public schools in
2005 and Connecticut did in 2006, but most states don't have
policies."
True Cost Accounting—Understanding the Real Cost of Cheap Food
I was in the Philippines last month and over there fresh
fruits and vegetables are inexpensive and processed junk food is
costly. So there are strong economic incentives for them to eat
healthy. However, the converse is present in the US. For some
families, access to fruits and vegetables is very limited,
forcing them to rely on the heavily subsidized processed foods
at their local markets. Others realize they can get a value meal
at numerous fast-food restaurants for far less money than it
takes to purchase foods to cook from scratch. But all this cheap
food comes with a hidden price tag.
The featured video discusses a number of principles
associated with food, such as the principle of true cost
accounting,9
which helps you understand the real cost of the food you buy.
When you make purchasing decisions based solely on price,
without asking why the food is so inexpensive, you're
actually supporting a long list of social and environmental ills
that, ultimately, you still end up paying for in one way or
another.
While Americans pay less for their weekly grocery bill than
people in most other nations, the true cost of all this cheap
food is staggering. Declining health and rising health care
costs are two of the most obvious considerations. Parents need
to wake up and face the reality that
processed foods have dramatically changed over the years.
The level of processing and chemical additives has increased
exponentially, and today's pre-packaged convenience foods have
been processed and altered to the point of being virtually
unrecognizable, nutritionally, from real food.
Processed food is typically NOT interchangeable with fresh
whole food, no matter what it says on the bag. Unfortunately,
many still do not know that the "natural" label is completely
worthless, as foods bearing the "natural" label can still,
legally, be chockfull of chemicals, additives, and genetically
engineered ingredients.
Children Are Highly Susceptible to GMO Side Effects
In the US, parents also have to contend with the fact that a
vast majority of this cheap food is genetically engineered and
heavily contaminated with the toxic herbicides like glyphosate,
the active ingredient in Monsanto's
Roundup. Experts like Dr. Don Huber strongly believe that
glyphosate is actually
more toxic than DDT.
Compelling evidence now suggests that glyphosate residues,
found in most commonly consumed foods in the Western diet
courtesy of GE sugar, corn, soy, and wheat, enhance the damaging
effects of other food-borne chemical residues and toxins in the
environment to disrupt normal body functions and induce disease.
Glyphosate also severely disrupts your gut flora, thereby
further exacerbating metabolic havoc and poor health. Children
are clearly at greatest risk here. The sooner their gut flora
becomes severely compromised, the sooner their health will begin
to fail. If they're fed GE foods from infancy, they may be
facing serious health issues by the time they're in their teens!
This is a valid concern, as genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) can even be found in
infant formulas, and no one really knows what the health
risks of such ingredients might be, especially long-term. It's
important to remember that pound for pound, infants experience
greater exposure to chemicals than adults, and have immature and
porous blood-brain barriers, which allow greater chemical
exposures to reach their developing brains. Hence, an
all-organic diet is really crucial for infants and young
children.
Breastfeeding is clearly the best option. Besides lacking
the full arsenal of critical nutrients obtained from breast
milk, many infant formulas also contain far too much sugar (your
baby doesn't need any). But it's not just a matter of
vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fats that makes breast milk
far superior to formula. Breast milk also contains substances
that may significantly enhance your baby's gut and support the
healthy development of her entire nervous system.
Teach Your Kids the Basic Tenets of Optimal Health
Do not make the mistake of underestimating the power of your
influence as a parent when it comes to laying down potentially
lifelong habits. Leading by example is one of the most effective
teaching tools there is. Children will simply not know which
foods are healthy unless you, as a parent, teach it to them.
Remember, wholesome food is "live" and typically raw food,
and the hallmark of live food is the fact that it will wilt and
decompose. The fact that fast food burgers, buns, and fries show
no signs of decomposing, even after a decade, is a clear
indication that it's not real food and serves no beneficial
purpose as part of your child's diet.
If you're unsure about how to get your family on the right
track, my
optimized nutrition plan offers a step-by-step guide to
feeding your family right. You can find even more help in the
book I wrote on the subject, called
Generation XL: Raising Healthy, Intelligent Kids in a
High-Tech, Junk-Food World. As a quick overview, here
are some of the most important lifestyle strategies you can
teach your child that will serve him or her well for the rest of
their life:
Proper food choices: For a
comprehensive guide, see my free
optimized nutrition plan. Generally speaking though,
you'll want to focus your diet on whole, ideally organic,
unprocessed or minimally processed foods. For the
best nutrition and health benefits, you will want to eat a
good portion of your
food raw.
Avoid processed
sugar, and refined
fructose in
particular. All forms of sugar have toxic effects when
consumed in excess, and drive multiple disease processes in
your body, not the least of which is insulin resistance, a
major cause of chronic disease and accelerated aging. I
believe the two primary keys for successful weight
management are severely restricting carbohydrates (sugars,
fructose, and grains) in your diet, and increasing
healthy fat consumption. This will optimize insulin and
leptin levels, which is key for maintaining a healthy weight
and optimal health. Sources of healthy fats include:
Regular exercise: Even if you're eating
the healthiest diet in the world, you still need to exercise
to reach the highest levels of health, and you need to be
exercising effectively, which means including high-intensity
activities into your rotation. High-intensity interval-type
training boosts
human growth hormone (HGH) production, which is
essential for optimal health, strength and vigor. HGH also
helps boost weight loss.
So along with core-strengthening exercises,
strength training, and stretching, I highly recommend
that two to three times a week you do
Peak Fitness exercises, which raise your heart rate up
to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, followed
by a 90-second recovery period.
Stress reduction: Your emotional state
plays a role in nearly every physical disease -- from heart
disease and depression, to arthritis and cancer. Meditation,
prayer, social support, and exercise are all viable options
that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium.
I also strongly believe in using simple tools such as the
Emotional Freedom
Technique (EFT) to address deeper, oftentimes hidden,
emotional problems.
Maintain a healthy gut: About 80
percent of your immune system resides in your gut, and
research is stacking up showing that probiotics—beneficial
bacteria—affect your health in a myriad of ways; it can even
influence your ability to
lose weight. A healthy diet is the ideal way to maintain
a healthy gut, and regularly consuming traditionally
fermented foods is the easiest, most cost effective way
to ensure optimal gut flora.
Optimize your vitamin D levels:
Research has shown that increasing your
vitamin D levels
can reduce your risk of death from ALL causes. Sun exposure
is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels as your
body has built-in "fail-safe" mechanisms that prevent
detrimental side effects from occurring. For more
information on how to safely and effectively optimize your
vitamin D levels, please see my previous article, "How
Vitamin D Performance Testing Can Help You Optimize Your
Health."
If you opt for oral vitamin D supplements, make sure you
use D3, not prescription D2, as the latter may do more harm
than good. Also, if you take supplemental vitamin D,
you're creating an increased demand for K2—not K1 that
is typically in vegetables as it will not work synergize
with vitamin D.
Vitamin K2 deficiency is actually what produces the
symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, which includes inappropriate
calcification that can lead to hardening of your arteries.
Together, vitamin D and K2 help strengthen your bones and
improve your heart health.
Avoid as many chemicals, toxins, and pollutants
as possible: This includes tossing out your
toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene
products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and
insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with
non-toxic alternatives.
Get plenty of
high-quality sleep:
Regularly catching only a few hours of sleep can hinder
metabolism and hormone production in a way that is similar
to the effects of aging and the early stages of diabetes.
Chronic sleep loss may speed the onset or increase the
severity of age-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes,
high blood pressure, obesity, and memory loss.
More Tips for Creating a Healthy Eating Environment for Kids
Ultimately, teaching your child the importance of healthy
foods and exercise is the key to maintaining health. With that
in mind, here are a few more tips to foster a healthy view of
food and self-esteem in your child:
Lead by example and seek to maintain optimal body weight
for yourself and your spouse
Refrain from making jokes about your child's weight,
even if no harm is intended
Explain the health risks of being overweight to your
child, but avoid comparing your overweight child to other
children, including thinner siblings
Cook healthy meals for your family, and let your child
be involved in making dinner, but avoid making your child
eat different food than the rest of the family
Encourage your child to make healthy food choices and
praise them when they do instead of putting your child down
about weight or eating habits
Instead of using food as a reward or punishment, have
healthy snacks available at all times, and explain to your
child the benefits they'll get from eating these fresh,
whole foods; use non-food items, such as stickers or special
outings/activities as rewards instead
Copyright 1997- 2014 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.