Obese Kids

No one likes an "I told you so" person and we don't mean to be that way BUT... "Researchers are recommending that officials in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia rethink their efforts to combat obesity in children because the current strategies -- emphasizing healthy diets and exercise -- aren't working." While the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) got the numbers wrong and it's not that we need the validation. Our reason to be is to correct these widely reported errors. According to the actual research in the BMJ ( formerly the British Medical Journal): "3958 children visiting their general practitioner in May 2005-July 2006 were surveyed for BMI." The information from the survey is in this decade. We believe that the right prescription is important to receive the right remedy.

Their conclusion is: "Primary care screening followed by brief counselling did not improve BMI, physical activity, or nutrition in overweight or mildly obese 5-10 year olds, and it would be very costly if universally implemented. These findings are at odds with national policies in countries including the US, UK, and Australia."

That's why we blah, blah, blah all these studies of studies that say the answer is more victim blaming like more exercise, dieting, better nutrition. Blah, blah, blah.... We don't get overweight because we want to get overweight. The answer has to be more than just saying: "No!"

The issue of spiraling health care costs must be addressed we support the most effective and efficient methods as an alternative to the current system. Smart and effective change is the only change needed rather than change for change sake. We support "better difference (trademark pending)."

More Vitamin D Please

Once upon a time our parents made us take "One A Day" vitamins every day to get what we didn't get from our foods. Bayer no longer makes that formula. The problem we later learned as an adult is you get too many of one vitamin and not enough of the others. Not enough C or zinc and too much A. As an adult we moved to individual vitamins so we got more of what we needed and less of what we didn't. As we changed so did "One A Day" their current Teen Advantage brand gives just enough of the missing Vitamin D to protect your child. Vitamin D isn't a vitamin at all - it's a hormone!

For our children it could be a matter of life and death. The new report which again is another study of a study found: "Low vitamin D levels were especially common in children who were older, female, African-American, Mexican-American, obese, drank milk less than once a week, or spent more than four hours a day watching TV, playing videogames, or using computers. The researchers also found that low levels of vitamin D deficiency were associated with higher parathyroid hormone levels, a marker of bone health, higher systolic blood pressure, and lower serum calcium and HDL (good) cholesterol levels, which are key risk factors for heart disease."


The report's solution is our suggestion - more One A Day for teens: "Vitamin D supplementation can help. In the study, children who took vitamin D supplements (400 IU/day) were less likely to be deficient in the vitamin. However, only four percent of the study population actually used supplements. The American Academy of Pediatrics, which recently updated its vitamin D guidelines, now recommends that infants, children, and teens should take 400 IU per day in supplement form."

"Supplements are especially important for those living in the country's northern regions where the sun may be too weak to maintain healthy vitamin D levels. Supplements are also critical for infants who are breast-fed, say the researchers. Breast milk contains relatively little vitamin D, while formula is fortified with the vitamin."