Teens Aren't Eating Veggies!

As a follow up to the obesity post, this was a curious piece of news published late last year.  In November, a CDC report stated that US teens are eating less than the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.  On the surface, one could have a gut reaction, "Well duh- teenagers are teenagers.  French fries and Big Macs are the norm!" 

But lets keep in mind that these teens will go on to become unwell.  You can't run a car without the right fuel.  Our sophisticated bodies have a demand for the right fuel as well.  Because our bodies are so resilient, it can go a long time with lesser quality fuel.  But only at a cost.  There is always a cost.  

These teenagers may not know it, but they are slowly incurring a physiological debt that they may never be able to repay.  Systems decline, blood sugar is dysregulated, the bacteria in the gut are destroyed, hormones shift the wrong way and eventually, a state of sickness emerges. 

Unhealthy teenagers usually grow up to be unhealthy adults.  A reminder;  36% of American adults are now obese and at least 34% of us are overweight (not obese).  All these adults were teenagers at some point.  Will the current generation of teenagers  push these figures up?  Remember that experts anticipate 42% obesity rates by 2030.  They are counting on teenagers who currently don't eat fruits and vegetables (and presumably fill up on other nutrient poor, calorie rich foods) to either stay fat or get fat. 

Bad News About School Lunches

Is our overweight problem a threat to national security?  A group of retired military officers state that school lunches are so unhealthy, they are making future soldiers "too fat to fight."  Currently, 27 million young adults are deemed too fat to serve in the military. 

Let's remember that these fat kids become fat adults.  Our current health crisis starts with overweight and sick kids.  We are setting ourselves up for a dangerous future.

Vitamin D in Kids

We've been doing a series on heart disease but this breaking news needs to be mentioned. A study in the current edition of Pediatrics found that 70% of kids in the United States have low levels of vitamin D.

The researchers say, "We expected the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency would be high, but the magnitude of the problem nationwide was shocking."

Falling in line with our discussion on heart disease, the authors note...
"25(OH)D (vitamin D) deficiency is common in the general US pediatric population and is associated with adverse cardiovascular risks."

In other words, kids with low vitamin D are at risk of heart disease as adults. We've been talking about ways to address your concerns if you have heart disease, but this news tells us that we can help our kids by making sure they have adequate vitamin D.

I really like the tone the researchers take here. Let's reduce risk factors for the next generation by getting them out in the sun.

Obesity- Kids

A new study in the April 2009 edition of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reports that over 18% of 4 year old children in the United States are obese. The rate differed among children of different racial/ethnic backgrounds. It broke down like this:

Native Alaskan/American Indian: 31%
Hispanic: 22%
Non-Hispanic black: 21%
Non-Hispanic white: 16%
Asian: 13%

This kind of data reflects why pediatricians are becoming increasingly concerned with 'adult' conditions like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in kids. Liver disease in kids! Due to largely preventable causes!

I know we think birthday cake is a standard rite of passage. A small cupcake after church on Sunday is no big deal... and it's so cute to see to see frosting on the noses of little ones! One cookie as an afternoon snack is alright. A family ice cream night after a long week is a time to bond. Everything in moderation, right?

Folks- when you add up an attitude of "moderation" over a typical week, the results can be staggering. We used to see this poor attitude manifest in adults who got sick as they entered their 40's following a lifetime of "moderation." Then we started seeing 20 year olds with health problems. Then, the teenagers started showing up with diabetes. After that, the kids started getting sicker. Now, we're seeing bad habits, poor health and a bleak outlook in our 4 year olds.

Overweight Kids and Fish

Tying together the last few articles I wrote in this blog, this study links prenatal exposure to toxins in our fish with obesity.

“What we have found for the first time is exposure to certain toxins by eating fish from polluted waters may contribute to the obesity epidemic in women,” Janet Osuch, MD, MS, professor of surgery and epidemiology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, said in a press release.

This particular study looked at 2 environmental contaminant; DDE (a breakdown product of Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane aka DDT, a pesticide that was banned in the 1970's) as well as PCBs (another chemical no longer produced in the United States). Only DDE was found to have a relationship with obesity.

Folks, these chemicals aren't even produced in the United States any more. So are they coming from 'less civilized' places of the world? No! They are still lingering as a result of our past negligence and lack of foresight. They are still in the environment and are creating health consequences for us and our children today.

What are we doing today that will harm the next generation's health? It is clear that we are probably the sickest generation the United States has ever seen (consider that chronic disease so prevalent in the U.S. as well as obesity and overweight rates). So if we are this sick now, and we continue to demand-consume-throw away and pollute as much as we do now, then what will the next generation see?

Kids Need More Vitamin D

The American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement this week that your kids may need to double their intake of vitamin D. Vitamin D has made waves in the health care community over the past few years. In the old days, people thought that vitamin D deficiency was rare since it is made in the skin in response to sunlight. But mounting evidence over the past few years suggests that deficiency may play a significant role in: heart disease, cancers, autoimmune disorders, depression, chronic pain, type 1 diabetes, muscle & bone problems.

The AAP now recommends a dose of 400IU per day with supplementation beginning shortly after birth and continuing through adolescence. The 2003 recommendation stood at 200IU per day.

Here's some food for thought. A study published in July 2008 issue of The Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism suggests that adolescents may actually need 2000IU per day to establish healthy serum levels of vitamin D. This is 5 times the current, updated recommendation!

The October 2008 issue of Current Diabetes Reports has a study that recommends children and adults get 1000IU of vitamin D when sunlight is not readily available. Note that this is also higher than the updated AAP recommendations.

While most regions of the United States receive sufficient sunlight to make vitamin D during the warmer months, Dr. Joan Lappe, a vitamin D researcher, states that areas north of 37 degrees latitude do not get adequate sun exposure to make vitamin D from October through March.

That means that if you live north of a line drawn straight across the U.S. from San Jose, CA, through Springfield, MO, and into Newport News, Virginia, you will not make vitamin D from fall through winter. More accurately, you could make vitamin D if you sat out in the sun a very long time, but in the time it would take to make enough vitamin D, you would get badly burned.

Your best bet:
Have your vitamin D levels measured. This should be the 25(OH)D (aka 25 hydroxyvitamin D or calcidiol). Then supplement with D3 (cholecalciferol) and recheck your levels in a few months. If it is winter time, you'll most likely need to supplement.