Friday, January 22, 2010
More bad health news about kids
When will parents realize that driving their kids everywhere, in part because they fear for their safety, is doing more harm to their health and well-being than good? The headline says it all: High cholesterol puts 1 of 5 teens at risk of heart disease:"This is the future of America," said Linda Van Horn, a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University who heads the American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee. "These data really confirm the seriousness of our obesity epidemic. This really is an urgent call for health-care providers and families to take this issue seriously."
While exercise is only part of the equation, lack of exercise certainly plays a role in development of high cholesterol and childhood obesity.Because of the obesity epidemic, some have said that this is the first generation in which parents may outlive their children. Exacerbating the problem is the amount of time children spend in front of a computer, tv, or some other media device: "children ages 8 to 18 devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes a day consuming some form of media for fun." Walking or biking to school is a simple, low cost part of the solution.
Labels: obesity
Post a Comment