Focus On Obesity Prevention In Early ChildhoodYour Health Journal ...

From Family Practice News?..

Early childhood presents one of the most promising opportunities for addressing the problem of obesity, according to Dr. Elsie Taveras.

Not only is interaction with the health care system at its highest from the prenatal period through the second year of life, but early childhood also is a time when healthy choices can be made on behalf of children, she explained at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society.

?This is a time when children are not making autonomous choices in eating and physical activity. ? This is a time when we can get children and families ? but especially children ? on a healthy weight trajectory,? said Dr. Taveras, a pediatrician who is codirector of the obesity prevention program in the department of population medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Since monitoring at this stage is fairly continuous, healthy practices can be established and risks can be identified early, she added, noting that prevention is much easier than management.

The importance of prevention is underscored by 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data showing that 17% of children aged 2-19 years in the United States are obese, with a disproportionate effect on racial and ethnic minorities. As of 2010, obesity affected 14% of non-Hispanic white children, 24% of black children, and 22% of Hispanic children.

?The other thing that?s starting to gain more attention in the national discourse is that the obesity epidemic has not spared even the youngest of the nation?s children. Almost 10% of infants and toddlers have high weight for length, slightly more than 20% of those aged 2-5 years are overweight or obese, and approximately one to five are carrying extra weight when they enter kindergarten,? she said.

Fortunately, quality data exist to help guide efforts to address obesity in these early childhood years, she said.

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Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=5938

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