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economist suntribune health thursday sept 19 2002 back to school good time to encourage healthier habits pediatric society advises childhood obesity weighs on society h by usa queen staff writer er daughter is intelli gent creative and play ful but the aurora mom gets tears in her eyes when she discusses her pre schoolers weight shes very big for her age and i worry about the life shell have the horrible comments that kids and even adults feel they have the right to make about her said the woman who did not want to be identified of course i worry about the health effects from carrying all that extra weight but its not like my kid just sits around all day eating pota to chips she plays all the time i think about what will happen when she gets into school kids can be cruel will they look past the weight and see what a great kid she is the little girl is not alone according to the canadian pediatric society a quarter of canadian children are now consid ered obese and the number is on the rise dter nieman a member of the societys healthy active living commit tee says back to school is the perfect time for parents educators and society to focus on the issue with youngsters back in the classroom for much of the day he urged people to think of innovative ways to keep children active from september to june at the same time dr nieman said parents should consider the foods they are packing in kids lunchbags and schools should think about whether pizza lunches vending machines in the halls and the fatty foods they serve in cafete rias are in childrens best interests kids across the land are gain ing weight like crazy is there a cost to having obese inactive kids the answer is very clearly yes he said arguing obesity is linked to health risks such as heart disease dia betes asthma some cancers depression selfesteem problems and even suicides at what point does this issue become a public health debate like smoking if you bring it down to the bottom line what were trying to do is get kids physically active not to make them olympic ath letes but to get them physically active however while dr leora pinhas director of southlake regional health centres regional eating disorders program is in favour of healthier kids she wor ries societys obsession with weight is creating more anorexic and bulimic children she points to last years study by torontos university health network which showed 27 per cent of teenage girls in ontario are at risk of an eating disorder according to the pediatric soci ety obesity in canadian children tripled between 1981 and 1996 about 40 per cent of obese chil dren and 70 per cent of obese teens will become obese adults arguing heredity accounts for less than 30 per cent of juvenile obesity the society said the culprits are poor eating habits and inactivi ty encouraged by tv computers and video games dr nieman acknowledged there are many hurdles to childhood fit ness everything from busy parents and mom and dads anxiety about letting their children play outside unattended to bigger restaurant portions that feature fries with every kids meal the amount of homework some children bring home and kids fascination with all things electronic can serve as excuses but dr nieman said there are longterm consequences to ignor- fast facts 50 per cent of children and youth are not active enough for optimal growth and development girls are less active than boys 15 per cent of grade o students consume french fries daily 24 per cent eat candy or chocolate daily canadian children watch an average of 155 hours of tv a week while teens watch more than 14 hours there was a 200percent increase in fastfood restaurant visits between 1977 and 1995 obese children need 2d per cent more energy than childreji of normal weight ing the obesity epidemic obesity is a longterm thing its like alcoholism youre never going to rid of it but you can con trol it he urged parents and school boards to be innovative when look ing for ways to get kids active again for example some edmonton parents whose children are bused con vinced the school board to drop their youngsters off a few blocks from school so they could staff photomike barrett walk my goal would be very simple if we could make canadian kids the most active in the world i would be very very happy dr nieman said heather sears a health and physical education curriculum consultant for the york region district school board said back to school is a good time to focus on childrens activity levels research tells us even research that has been gathered by teachers in our board when students are involved in vigorous physical activ ity it improves their concentra tion ms sears added ms sears said the board takes childrens activity levels seriously pointing out more than 1000 teachers participated in 88 phys ical education workshops in the past year she also supports the provinces curriculum which calls for all stu dents to take part in sustained physical activity daily thats five to 10 minutes for children in grade 1 and a minimum of 15 minutes for teens in grade 8 ms sears said the provincial curriculum also requires children to be active through other means board spokesperson ross virgo agreed physical education is extremely important for children but complained the demanding provincial curriculum prohibits cutting into academics with more gym classes dr pinhas is concerned our desire to get kids healthy may swing the pendulum too far to the other side she agrees encouraging chil dren to be more active is a good idea as long as activity doesnt become a regimented chore kids have gotten less physically active over the years play time has been replaced with screen time dr pinhas said but that doesnt mean you get kids running on treadmills or tak ing aerobics classes to lose weight exercise in moderation is impor tant to everyones health but all you have to do is throw a kid in the backyard and theyll play where dr pinhas gets con cerned is when the debate about overweight children turns to their appetite she argued children have a nat ural ability to regulate how much food they eat but adults often destroy that internal saturation gauge by insist ing youngsters have a few more bites or clean their plates or con versely by restricting food because they are worried about their chil drens weight children whose food is restricted will often turn to binging or steal ing junk food dr pinhas stressed there is no reason for children under the age of 18 to be on diets to lose weight diets dont work anyway she argued because 90 per cent of dieters will regain the weight they lose at most parents should try to keep their childrens weight stable until their height catches up diets are not the way to go i can say this unequivocally said dr pinhas who disputes research indicating all overweight people are at an elevated risk for health problems being overweight at 18 wont kill you but a serious eating disor der might dr pinhas said the best way to ensure kids health is to take a bal anced approach weve lost all sense of whats normal and moderate you can never be too thin is societys mantra she said but its ok to have dessert as long as you have broccoli its ok to watch tv if you exercise moderate ly three times a week the canadian pediatric societys website is wwwcpsca finhfome furninings 4747 highway 7 east ast of kennedy in unionville tel 905 4775524 wwwalmiracom salesalmiracom store hours mon wed 10 am 6 pm thu fri 1 0 am 9 pm saturday 1 0 am 530 pm sunday closed