Does Stress Cause Childhood Obesity?

Obesity is a complex metabolic disease. While its origins are uncertain, researchers are gradually zeroing in on the factors that can trigger obesity in otherwise healthy people – and it’s becoming more and more obvious that one factor – stress – is likely a direct contributor to childhood obesity.

Data from a new Iowa State University study confirms this. The study has found that adolescents exhibiting four or more of five specific “stress markers” have a greater likelihood of becoming overweight or obese.

The research results, to be published in the August issue of The Journal of Adolescent Health, are derived from data obtained from an in-depth study of more than 1000 adolescents and their mothers living in Boston, Chicago and San Antonio. The study subjects were all from low income families, as the lack of security concerning food and money are initial stressors.

The adolescents were first measured and classified according to their individual body mass index, which revealed that 47% of the teenagers were overweight or obese.

The study subjects’ data were then correlated with five stress factors that the researchers theorized to be related to the onset of obesity:

• Academic problems
• Drug and alcohol use
• Depression or other mental health problems
• Inappropriate aggression or other behaviors
• The inability to focus on the future

The correlated data showed that more than 56% of the adolescents who exhibited at least four of these five factors were overweight or obese. In other words, this study indicates that an adolescent who is stressed by poor grades, mental health problems, drug and alcohol use, or some combination of these is likely to develop weight issues.

The upshot, say the researchers, is that obesity care and prevention efforts for adolescents need to focus more on the big picture rather than on diet and exercise alone. By treating obese and overweight students holistically, including addressing stress and home-life factors, we may hope for better results in our battle against childhood obesity.

Fast Food Format Failure for Fitness

Here’s a shocker…kids tend to eat what their parents eat. A crack team of researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has determined that teens are more likely to eat a healthy diet if their parents do. On the other hand, kids whose elders favor a fast food diet are more likely to be junk food junkies themselves.

According to the California Health Interview Survey – a recent quiz of thousands of California teenagers – 43% of West Coast teens eat fast food every day, but only 38% eat their “daily five” – which are the five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables that nutritionists recommend.
Researchers admit that the zillions of fast food restaurants in Southern California help lure many youngsters away from a healthy diet – but they say that parents can counter the siren song of hamburger-hawking clowns and fried-fish pirates by setting a good dietary example for their kids.
In short:  parents should eat the things they want their kids to eat, and avoid stuff they want their kids to avoid.

Modeling healthy eating habits, and giving them increased access to fruits, vegetables and other healthy fare, can go a long way toward helping teens make smarter food choices themselves.

A new study shows that weight loss surgery can have the same positive effect on diabetes for obese teenagers as it does for adults.

The study, which was led by Dr. Thomas Inge, a pediatric surgeon at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, focused on 11 severely obese adolescents with Type 2 diabetes who underwent bariatric surgery. After the surgery, the diabetes disappeared in all but one of the teens.

The 11 patients in the study at Cincinnati Children’s were 14 to 21 years old, and they ranged from 250 to 403 pounds. As part of the study, doctors also monitored a comparison group of 67 obese teens who did not undergo surgery. That group showed no significant change in their treatment for diabetes after a year.

Sadly, Type 2 diabetes was rarely seen in teenagers until recently. But today, about a third of our nation’s kids are overweight or obese, and more and more are being diagnosed with this form of the disease. Since the long-term effects of weight loss surgery on teenagers are still unknown, it’s imperative that parents help their kids make smart nutritional choices and get plenty of exercise, and that healthcare providers educate parents and children about obesity, diabetes,  and related health risks.