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CNN Sunday Morning

Weekend House Call: Overweight Children

Aired June 22, 2003 - 08:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: "Weekend House Call" begins right now.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi again, good morning, everybody. Today on WEEKEND HOUSE CALL, it's a really weighty issue of overweight kids. You know, a lot of lawsuits have been filed against fast food restaurants, even cookie makers and at the same time, some school systems let cola companies and fast food restaurants serve their sugary and fatty foods to students at the schools. Other fingers pointing is directed at the decrease in sidewalks and safe play areas, also the increase of video and computer games keeping kids at home. Joining to us today, to take on this topic, medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

And I guess, we were talking earlier about some of these numbers. Staggering when you think about how many kids out there, that really fall in this category.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They are staggering and going up all the time and there doesn't seem to be an indication that they're going to go down, ever. The statistics are that millions of kids are overweight in the United States, in fact, the National Institutes of Health says at least one in five American children is overweight. Fifty percent of our teenagers say they get no exercise and nearly half of the 8 to 16-year-old set say they're sitting in front of the TV for three to five hours a day. Here are the consequences: young children and teens with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea, and maybe the most alarming, a new statistic, that because of this obesity trend, researchers believe one in every three children born in the year 2000 will develop type two diabetes in the coming years if something isn't done to change the habits of our youth. In fact, the situation is so dire that some families are considering drastic measures, putting their children under the knife.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): Jose Jimenez used to weigh 350 pounds. Then last year, at the age of 16, he had obesity surgery, what you may know as stomach stapling. The surgery made his stomach smaller so he can't eat as much, the result: in seven months he lost 100 pounds and is still losing.

JOSE JIMENEZ: I wanted something that would work for me and I knew that the surgery would do that.

COHEN: So, was Jose looking for a quick fix? He admits his attempts at dieting and exercise were half-hearted.

JIMENEZ: Once in awhile I would try to get into exercise habits, but normally I didn't and I ended up not working out.

COHEN: His mother says she tried to get him to stop overeating.

WENDY JIMENEZ, JOSE'S MOTHER: I was always telling him, you have to -- you know, don't do this, don't do that, but, of course, the refrigerator's there, everything is there. They just eat.

COHEN: So, this is the controversy around obesity surgery for teens. Some doctors question whether it's ethical to permanently alter a young person's body, especially if they haven't really tried to lose weight in a safer way and they question whether a teenager is mature enough to commit to such a big decision.

DR. DAVID LUDWIG, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, BOSTON: It's important to emphasize that obesity surgery has many severe and, in some case, life threatening risks in and of itself. So, how do we make the decision to proceed with something such as this in children?

COHEN: But, Dr. Louis Flancbaum, Jose's surgeon says when anyone weighs 350 pounds, studies have shown diet and exercise don't usually work and surgery really is the only solution

DR. LOUIS FLANCBAUM, ST. LUKE'S ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL: They already have diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and they're walking time bombs by the time they get to be 30.

COHEN: Doctors on both sides of the issue agree, it's sad that these days, there are so many 350 pound 16-year-olds and it's sad that the medical system couldn't help them before they got that big.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, clearly, surgery is not the best option for most children, but what else can parents and children do to fight this health problem that has such serious consequences, including conditions that can lead to death? That's exactly the question we want to answer during this half hour and we want to hear from you. You can call us at 800-807-2620, international charges do apply for our overseas callers, or e-mail us at housecall@CNN.com. Joining us to help answer your concerns is Dr. Tom Robinson, an expert in children's health.

Dr. Robinson, thanks for being with us today. Let's get to our first e-mail. Angela in New York writes, "Do you think the increase in sugar and processed foods is one of the major causes of childhood obesity?" -- Dr. Robinson.

DR. TOM ROBINSON, CHILDREN'S HEALTH EXPERT: Well, it's a tough question to identify what the causes are of this epidemic that we've seen. We've never seen anything in pediatrics increase with this much rapidity and this severely. It's -- there are probably many, many, probably hundreds of different causes that come together to cause the increase in weight. In terms of sugar, specifically, I think it may be difficult to answer that. It is one of the potential solutions is to decrease sugar intake and that's something we can do without knowing what the specific causes were in the first place.

ROBERTS: Well, I guess, you know, maybe as a parent, you're just not sure how to deal with your child's weight. A lot of parents have a lot of concerns. You know, no manual comes along with becoming a parent.

COHEN: It's such a difficult issue, it really is.

ROBERTS: So, coming up, though we're going to have good fun solutions for everybody when we come back.

Also, we're going to answer some more of your e-mails. That address again, housecall@CNN.com. The phone number again for you, if you want to call for Dr. Tom Robinson, talk with us. That phone number again: 800-807-2620. WEEKEND HOUSE CALL returns in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COHEN: Our phone lines are open. You can call us at 1-800-807- 2620 before we go to the break. Let's check the "Daily Dose Health Quiz." What percentage of American kids are overweight? We'll have that answer in 30 seconds, so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back, everybody. Want to go now and check the "Daily Dose" quiz. We asked a moment ago, "What percentage of American kids are overweight?" That answer, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Institutes of Health, between 20% and 30% -- amazing, America's school age kids fall in that category of being overweight.

COHEN: Welcome back to CNN's "WEEKEND HOUSE CALL," our topic this morning, the epidemic of overweight children. There are some proven strategies for parents who want to help reach their children and to maintain a healthy weight. First of all, be supportive, teach family health -- healthy eat be habits, in other words, do these healthy eating habits all together, encourage children to eat more slowly; eat meals together as a family; and involve children in the meal planning. Also, don't use food as a reward or as a punishment; keep healthy snacks on hand; plan family activities that involve exercise; set guidelines for watching TV. These suggestions are from the National Institutes of Health.

Our next e-mail is all about that TV watching we were talking about earlier.

Nabil in Amman writes, "Child obesity is on the rise! Is it psychological? What is the effect of those ads?"

Dr. Robinson, I know when I watch TV with my kids, there are so many ads for just foods that are really pretty bad, high in fat, high in sugar, high in calories. You don't see ads for apples and oranges. ROBINSON: Yeah, that's true. Most of the ads on children's television, at least those for -- most of the ads are for toys, but the second leading number of ads is for food and most of those foods are high fat high, high calorie foods. And there is good evidence that advertising itself does influence children's intake, so, in fact, studies done where kids are exposed to even brief exposures to ads, one or two over a -- during a cartoon, and compared to kids who don't see the ads, those kids are much more likely to choose the items that were advertised, even down to three and four years of age.

ROBERTS: Advertising plays such a big part. We want to go to the phone lines, now, and talk with Barbara in West Virginia.

Barbara, what's your question this morning?

CALLER: How do you get your child to quit eating?

ROBERTS: Good question there, Dr. Robinson, how do you do that? What do you say to your children?

ROBINSON: Well, I -- I assume she's asking about getting them to quit eating at the end of the meal, because of course, you don't them to quit eating totally, because we want a -- restricting food or to severe dieting or fasting is probably not good a good thing for kids to be doing and may actual binging behavior after that or eating disorder-type behavior. But, in terms of getting them to stop eating, one of the strategies has been to work with portion size, so you serve from the kitchen, for example, so you serve all the plates and have control about the size of a serving and then that plate is taken to wherever they're eating for dinner or lunch, and that way they -- there's actually more effort involved in getting more and more helpings of food.

Another is just to limit eating to mealtimes and depending on the age of your child, it is often the case where -- where children will ask for things and -- or not like the foods that are served and parents will, not wanting to see them not eat, will give them more and more different choices and different types of foods and when you do that, you're really teaching your child that if they -- if they try hard enough, if they -- if they bug you enough then you're willing to give them whatever they like and of course, all human beings really like salt, sugar, and fat.

ROBERTS: Yeah, well, we're all victims of that, we like that for sure.

Well, is our education our part of the problem -- you know our education system? Some folks say kids need more recess, less junk foods at the schools, we've all seen the cafeteria lines. That controversy when we come back. Say tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Good morning again, everybody, welcome back to CNN and "WEEKEND HOUSE CALL."

COHEN: And, let's keep answering questions. They are coming in e-mails and phone calls.

Let's take an e-mail now, from Janette in Pennsylvania. "In the 1950's, frequent elementary school recess was considered a way to 'let off steam,' stimulate the mind, and refresh the student for the rest of the day's classes. My recollection is that we often had it three times a day for perhaps 20-30 minutes at a time. We'd run around outside and come back all sweaty and invigorated. How often do elementary students get recess these days?" -- Dr. Robinson?

ROBINSON: That's quite variable, but she's right. There has been a lot less, sort of, opportunities for free activity. Some of that has occurred because of pressure on teachers for school performance and test scores. Others, that, teachers just don't have the time and more and more is being packed into the curriculum and they, in many places, there are no people to supervise the kids when they go out, so it's up to the teachers themselves to do that, not all teachers really want to go out and supervise kids on the playground and it's -- that is combined with less opportunities for physical education as well in many schools. So, the school day is mostly set -- spent sitting with no movement, unfortunately. When we put activity monitors on children and on school days, we find that most of their activity is either on the way to school or on the way home with very little movement during the day.

ROBERTS: We want to get back to the phone lines now, we have Dawn in Colorado, on the line that has a question for you, Dr. Robinson.

Dawn, go ahead.

CALLER: Yeah, could some of these children be genetically overweight?

ROBINSON: Yeah, that's a good question and something you hear a lot about. We're learning a lot about the genes and especially the genes that might control appetite and intake and our calorie balance, but one of the things is the genes themselves can't cause -- well, except in a few cases, and there are very few cases, in -- and much, much less than 1% of the children who are overweight, have genetic or metabolic causes as the main cause.

But, the genes may make you more susceptible and even though they don't make you more -- or alone they don't make you overweight, in the context of our environment, in which we have lots of available, cheap, high calorie foods and few opportunities for physical activities, there are children who will become heavier more easily than other children. The -- we know it's not a change in the genes that's occurred, because this epidemic of obesity has occurred so -- over such a short period of time and -- so, it's really changes in the environment that have spurred this on.

ROBERTS: So important. Dr. Robinson, thanks very much. "WEEKEND HOUSE CALL" tackling the issue of kids and obesity, we're back with more in a moment. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COHEN: That's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for all your calls and e-mails. And thank you, Dr. Robinson for joining us from Palo Alto.

You can continue to get health news everyday on CNN. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives you a medical update every day at 8:30 Eastern on "American Morning" and join me for "Daily Dose" every day at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

Remember, this is the place for the answers to your health questions. Thanks for watching. I'm Elizabeth Cohen. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 22, 2003 - 08:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: "Weekend House Call" begins right now.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi again, good morning, everybody. Today on WEEKEND HOUSE CALL, it's a really weighty issue of overweight kids. You know, a lot of lawsuits have been filed against fast food restaurants, even cookie makers and at the same time, some school systems let cola companies and fast food restaurants serve their sugary and fatty foods to students at the schools. Other fingers pointing is directed at the decrease in sidewalks and safe play areas, also the increase of video and computer games keeping kids at home. Joining to us today, to take on this topic, medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

And I guess, we were talking earlier about some of these numbers. Staggering when you think about how many kids out there, that really fall in this category.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They are staggering and going up all the time and there doesn't seem to be an indication that they're going to go down, ever. The statistics are that millions of kids are overweight in the United States, in fact, the National Institutes of Health says at least one in five American children is overweight. Fifty percent of our teenagers say they get no exercise and nearly half of the 8 to 16-year-old set say they're sitting in front of the TV for three to five hours a day. Here are the consequences: young children and teens with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea, and maybe the most alarming, a new statistic, that because of this obesity trend, researchers believe one in every three children born in the year 2000 will develop type two diabetes in the coming years if something isn't done to change the habits of our youth. In fact, the situation is so dire that some families are considering drastic measures, putting their children under the knife.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): Jose Jimenez used to weigh 350 pounds. Then last year, at the age of 16, he had obesity surgery, what you may know as stomach stapling. The surgery made his stomach smaller so he can't eat as much, the result: in seven months he lost 100 pounds and is still losing.

JOSE JIMENEZ: I wanted something that would work for me and I knew that the surgery would do that.

COHEN: So, was Jose looking for a quick fix? He admits his attempts at dieting and exercise were half-hearted.

JIMENEZ: Once in awhile I would try to get into exercise habits, but normally I didn't and I ended up not working out.

COHEN: His mother says she tried to get him to stop overeating.

WENDY JIMENEZ, JOSE'S MOTHER: I was always telling him, you have to -- you know, don't do this, don't do that, but, of course, the refrigerator's there, everything is there. They just eat.

COHEN: So, this is the controversy around obesity surgery for teens. Some doctors question whether it's ethical to permanently alter a young person's body, especially if they haven't really tried to lose weight in a safer way and they question whether a teenager is mature enough to commit to such a big decision.

DR. DAVID LUDWIG, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, BOSTON: It's important to emphasize that obesity surgery has many severe and, in some case, life threatening risks in and of itself. So, how do we make the decision to proceed with something such as this in children?

COHEN: But, Dr. Louis Flancbaum, Jose's surgeon says when anyone weighs 350 pounds, studies have shown diet and exercise don't usually work and surgery really is the only solution

DR. LOUIS FLANCBAUM, ST. LUKE'S ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL: They already have diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and they're walking time bombs by the time they get to be 30.

COHEN: Doctors on both sides of the issue agree, it's sad that these days, there are so many 350 pound 16-year-olds and it's sad that the medical system couldn't help them before they got that big.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, clearly, surgery is not the best option for most children, but what else can parents and children do to fight this health problem that has such serious consequences, including conditions that can lead to death? That's exactly the question we want to answer during this half hour and we want to hear from you. You can call us at 800-807-2620, international charges do apply for our overseas callers, or e-mail us at housecall@CNN.com. Joining us to help answer your concerns is Dr. Tom Robinson, an expert in children's health.

Dr. Robinson, thanks for being with us today. Let's get to our first e-mail. Angela in New York writes, "Do you think the increase in sugar and processed foods is one of the major causes of childhood obesity?" -- Dr. Robinson.

DR. TOM ROBINSON, CHILDREN'S HEALTH EXPERT: Well, it's a tough question to identify what the causes are of this epidemic that we've seen. We've never seen anything in pediatrics increase with this much rapidity and this severely. It's -- there are probably many, many, probably hundreds of different causes that come together to cause the increase in weight. In terms of sugar, specifically, I think it may be difficult to answer that. It is one of the potential solutions is to decrease sugar intake and that's something we can do without knowing what the specific causes were in the first place.

ROBERTS: Well, I guess, you know, maybe as a parent, you're just not sure how to deal with your child's weight. A lot of parents have a lot of concerns. You know, no manual comes along with becoming a parent.

COHEN: It's such a difficult issue, it really is.

ROBERTS: So, coming up, though we're going to have good fun solutions for everybody when we come back.

Also, we're going to answer some more of your e-mails. That address again, housecall@CNN.com. The phone number again for you, if you want to call for Dr. Tom Robinson, talk with us. That phone number again: 800-807-2620. WEEKEND HOUSE CALL returns in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COHEN: Our phone lines are open. You can call us at 1-800-807- 2620 before we go to the break. Let's check the "Daily Dose Health Quiz." What percentage of American kids are overweight? We'll have that answer in 30 seconds, so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back, everybody. Want to go now and check the "Daily Dose" quiz. We asked a moment ago, "What percentage of American kids are overweight?" That answer, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Institutes of Health, between 20% and 30% -- amazing, America's school age kids fall in that category of being overweight.

COHEN: Welcome back to CNN's "WEEKEND HOUSE CALL," our topic this morning, the epidemic of overweight children. There are some proven strategies for parents who want to help reach their children and to maintain a healthy weight. First of all, be supportive, teach family health -- healthy eat be habits, in other words, do these healthy eating habits all together, encourage children to eat more slowly; eat meals together as a family; and involve children in the meal planning. Also, don't use food as a reward or as a punishment; keep healthy snacks on hand; plan family activities that involve exercise; set guidelines for watching TV. These suggestions are from the National Institutes of Health.

Our next e-mail is all about that TV watching we were talking about earlier.

Nabil in Amman writes, "Child obesity is on the rise! Is it psychological? What is the effect of those ads?"

Dr. Robinson, I know when I watch TV with my kids, there are so many ads for just foods that are really pretty bad, high in fat, high in sugar, high in calories. You don't see ads for apples and oranges. ROBINSON: Yeah, that's true. Most of the ads on children's television, at least those for -- most of the ads are for toys, but the second leading number of ads is for food and most of those foods are high fat high, high calorie foods. And there is good evidence that advertising itself does influence children's intake, so, in fact, studies done where kids are exposed to even brief exposures to ads, one or two over a -- during a cartoon, and compared to kids who don't see the ads, those kids are much more likely to choose the items that were advertised, even down to three and four years of age.

ROBERTS: Advertising plays such a big part. We want to go to the phone lines, now, and talk with Barbara in West Virginia.

Barbara, what's your question this morning?

CALLER: How do you get your child to quit eating?

ROBERTS: Good question there, Dr. Robinson, how do you do that? What do you say to your children?

ROBINSON: Well, I -- I assume she's asking about getting them to quit eating at the end of the meal, because of course, you don't them to quit eating totally, because we want a -- restricting food or to severe dieting or fasting is probably not good a good thing for kids to be doing and may actual binging behavior after that or eating disorder-type behavior. But, in terms of getting them to stop eating, one of the strategies has been to work with portion size, so you serve from the kitchen, for example, so you serve all the plates and have control about the size of a serving and then that plate is taken to wherever they're eating for dinner or lunch, and that way they -- there's actually more effort involved in getting more and more helpings of food.

Another is just to limit eating to mealtimes and depending on the age of your child, it is often the case where -- where children will ask for things and -- or not like the foods that are served and parents will, not wanting to see them not eat, will give them more and more different choices and different types of foods and when you do that, you're really teaching your child that if they -- if they try hard enough, if they -- if they bug you enough then you're willing to give them whatever they like and of course, all human beings really like salt, sugar, and fat.

ROBERTS: Yeah, well, we're all victims of that, we like that for sure.

Well, is our education our part of the problem -- you know our education system? Some folks say kids need more recess, less junk foods at the schools, we've all seen the cafeteria lines. That controversy when we come back. Say tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Good morning again, everybody, welcome back to CNN and "WEEKEND HOUSE CALL."

COHEN: And, let's keep answering questions. They are coming in e-mails and phone calls.

Let's take an e-mail now, from Janette in Pennsylvania. "In the 1950's, frequent elementary school recess was considered a way to 'let off steam,' stimulate the mind, and refresh the student for the rest of the day's classes. My recollection is that we often had it three times a day for perhaps 20-30 minutes at a time. We'd run around outside and come back all sweaty and invigorated. How often do elementary students get recess these days?" -- Dr. Robinson?

ROBINSON: That's quite variable, but she's right. There has been a lot less, sort of, opportunities for free activity. Some of that has occurred because of pressure on teachers for school performance and test scores. Others, that, teachers just don't have the time and more and more is being packed into the curriculum and they, in many places, there are no people to supervise the kids when they go out, so it's up to the teachers themselves to do that, not all teachers really want to go out and supervise kids on the playground and it's -- that is combined with less opportunities for physical education as well in many schools. So, the school day is mostly set -- spent sitting with no movement, unfortunately. When we put activity monitors on children and on school days, we find that most of their activity is either on the way to school or on the way home with very little movement during the day.

ROBERTS: We want to get back to the phone lines now, we have Dawn in Colorado, on the line that has a question for you, Dr. Robinson.

Dawn, go ahead.

CALLER: Yeah, could some of these children be genetically overweight?

ROBINSON: Yeah, that's a good question and something you hear a lot about. We're learning a lot about the genes and especially the genes that might control appetite and intake and our calorie balance, but one of the things is the genes themselves can't cause -- well, except in a few cases, and there are very few cases, in -- and much, much less than 1% of the children who are overweight, have genetic or metabolic causes as the main cause.

But, the genes may make you more susceptible and even though they don't make you more -- or alone they don't make you overweight, in the context of our environment, in which we have lots of available, cheap, high calorie foods and few opportunities for physical activities, there are children who will become heavier more easily than other children. The -- we know it's not a change in the genes that's occurred, because this epidemic of obesity has occurred so -- over such a short period of time and -- so, it's really changes in the environment that have spurred this on.

ROBERTS: So important. Dr. Robinson, thanks very much. "WEEKEND HOUSE CALL" tackling the issue of kids and obesity, we're back with more in a moment. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COHEN: That's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for all your calls and e-mails. And thank you, Dr. Robinson for joining us from Palo Alto.

You can continue to get health news everyday on CNN. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives you a medical update every day at 8:30 Eastern on "American Morning" and join me for "Daily Dose" every day at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

Remember, this is the place for the answers to your health questions. Thanks for watching. I'm Elizabeth Cohen. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com