Health News
- Wellcare Health Plans Gives Six Kentucky Ymca Programs $50,000 To Combat Childhood Obesity
WellCare Health Plans has gven six Kentucky YMCA programs a total of $50,000 to be used for childhood obesity programs, according to a news release. "Studies show that children and adolescents who are obese are likely to become obese adults who are more...
- Obese Children's Parents Say Kids Are 'about The Right Weight,' Likely Comparing Them To Other Kids Instead Of Growth Standards
Most parents of overweight children consider them to be "about the right weight," which poses a real concern because parents aren't likely to help their children change their behaviors toward weight reduction if they don't recognize there is a...
- Study Says Overweight Kids Become Overweight Teens
If a child is overweight in kindergarten, she probably will be in eighth grade, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And if your baby was heavy at birth, it has a greater chance of being fat. It found overweight kindergartners...
- Study Says Obese Children (kentucky's A Leader In That) May Have Quadruple The Risk Of Having High Blood Pressure As Adults
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News A new study shows that being obese in childhood may quadruple the risk of having high blood pressure risk as an adult, highlighting the need for Kentucky to curb its high rate of childhood obesity. Eighteen percent...
- Childhood Obesity Is Linked To More Immediate Health Problems Than Doctors Formerly Realized
While a plethora of research on childhood obesity has linked it to long-term health problems, a new UCLA study focuses on the condition's more proximate consequences, showing that obese children are at a greater risk for immediate health problems...
Health News
More bad news about childhood obesity: Study finds it can change some kids' brains and damage their mental 'flexibility'
It's not news that Kentucky is lagging in child fitness. In fact, the Truth for America's Health "F as in Fat" report found that the state has the third highest childhood obesity rate in the country. This is bad news, alright, and it's about to get worse. Dr. Claire McCarthy writes in The Boston Globe that a new study in the current issue of Pediatrics and shows that obesity can hurt kids' brains.
"Researchers looked at 49 adolescents with metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome, a consequence of obesity, is the triad of insulin resistance (pre-diabetes or diabetes), high blood pressure and high blood lipids," McCarthy writes. "The researchers compared the adolescents with 62 adolescents who had the same socioeconomic background but didn't have metabolic syndrome. The kids with metabolic syndrome had more trouble with arithmetic, spelling, attention and mental 'flexibility' than the ones who didn't have metabolic syndrome. Even more frightening, the researchers saw actual changes in their brains, in the hippocampus (which plays a crucial role in memory) and the white matter (which passes messages through the brain). It was only a small study, and not all kids with obesity have metabolic syndrome. But this study is alarming -- especially since we don't know if losing weight can make the brain go back to normal."
In her column tagged "MD Mama," McCarthy goes on: "Given that brains are still developing in adolescence, it's very possible that the changes could be permanent. What else do we need before we take the problem of childhood obesity really seriously?" (Read more) To read the study in Pedatrics, go here.
"Researchers looked at 49 adolescents with metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome, a consequence of obesity, is the triad of insulin resistance (pre-diabetes or diabetes), high blood pressure and high blood lipids," McCarthy writes. "The researchers compared the adolescents with 62 adolescents who had the same socioeconomic background but didn't have metabolic syndrome. The kids with metabolic syndrome had more trouble with arithmetic, spelling, attention and mental 'flexibility' than the ones who didn't have metabolic syndrome. Even more frightening, the researchers saw actual changes in their brains, in the hippocampus (which plays a crucial role in memory) and the white matter (which passes messages through the brain). It was only a small study, and not all kids with obesity have metabolic syndrome. But this study is alarming -- especially since we don't know if losing weight can make the brain go back to normal."
In her column tagged "MD Mama," McCarthy goes on: "Given that brains are still developing in adolescence, it's very possible that the changes could be permanent. What else do we need before we take the problem of childhood obesity really seriously?" (Read more) To read the study in Pedatrics, go here.
- Wellcare Health Plans Gives Six Kentucky Ymca Programs $50,000 To Combat Childhood Obesity
WellCare Health Plans has gven six Kentucky YMCA programs a total of $50,000 to be used for childhood obesity programs, according to a news release. "Studies show that children and adolescents who are obese are likely to become obese adults who are more...
- Obese Children's Parents Say Kids Are 'about The Right Weight,' Likely Comparing Them To Other Kids Instead Of Growth Standards
Most parents of overweight children consider them to be "about the right weight," which poses a real concern because parents aren't likely to help their children change their behaviors toward weight reduction if they don't recognize there is a...
- Study Says Overweight Kids Become Overweight Teens
If a child is overweight in kindergarten, she probably will be in eighth grade, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And if your baby was heavy at birth, it has a greater chance of being fat. It found overweight kindergartners...
- Study Says Obese Children (kentucky's A Leader In That) May Have Quadruple The Risk Of Having High Blood Pressure As Adults
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News A new study shows that being obese in childhood may quadruple the risk of having high blood pressure risk as an adult, highlighting the need for Kentucky to curb its high rate of childhood obesity. Eighteen percent...
- Childhood Obesity Is Linked To More Immediate Health Problems Than Doctors Formerly Realized
While a plethora of research on childhood obesity has linked it to long-term health problems, a new UCLA study focuses on the condition's more proximate consequences, showing that obese children are at a greater risk for immediate health problems...