Fast Food Contributes to Asthma, Eczema

We all know that our kids should be avoiding fast food heavy diets - in fact, we could probably stand to avoid the stuff too. Fast food is one of the largest contributors to the ongoing problem with childhood obesity, and we need to make sure that we are finding healthy dietary alternatives so that we are not relying the drive-through for all of our kids' meals.

Attribution: A_minor

On top of having a hand in childhood obesity, fast food is also being linked to other complications that reach far beyond a child's weight. A recent study concludes that there is a strong connection between eating fast food more than three times per week and a child's risk of suffering various allergy-related illnesses: asthma, eczema and rhinoconjunctivitis (runny nose/eyes). This research surveyed nearly half a million children around the world, and delivered some very interesting results. Additionally, this study indicates that we are likely to continue discovering new ways that fast food can negatively affect our health.

Here's an article from ThePediatrician.info that summarizes the study and also comments on some staggering statistics about childhood obesity. Remarking on what the study means for parenting, the article is a reminder that the behavior that we model for our children is going to be a major influence on their habits - dietary and otherwise. Hopefully this article will encourage us to be proactive in reversing the escalating trends of childhood obesity.

Should "Maggie" Go on a Diet?

I was rummaging through some old articles on health and pediatrics, and I stumbled upon this article. It's over a year old, but I think that it still raises some interesting questions about the societal responsibility we have in combating childhood obesity. The book is entitled Maggie Goes on a Diet and features a picture of a portly little girl looking into a mirror with a thinner version of herself looking back.

The book - aimed at children ages 4-8 - goes on to describe he measures that Maggie takes to try and lose weight, but also describes the experience that she has after she's lost it. The book says that she is "healthier" and "proud of herself" after she successfully loses the weight. Both of these facts would be relatively uncontested of someone who recently underwent a beneficial physical transformation - but the book goes on to suggest that "more people began to know her name" and that Maggie was "happier" with her new self. The book even says that since Maggie is now able to participate in sports, she is "popular" - something every young child wants to be.

But is the books young audience just, well, too young to be considering this material? No doubt, childhood obesity is a serious problem, and one that doesn't seem to be getting any better soft drinks and fast-food meals are becoming traditions in our day-to-day activities. But is this kind of literature a way to compromise the self-esteem of our children early in adolescence? Is it malicious for a book like this to appeal to a child's newly-budding sense of societal worth in an effort to scare them into fitness and health? Could it be possible that we are ascribing an unnecessarily negative connotation to the word 'diet'? Do the extreme health risks associated with childhood obesity warrant this blunt method of preventing it? Can the method itself really even be considered 'blunt'?

I don't suppose I know how I feel about little Maggie. The book simply had me thinking about how we do have an obligation to the welfare of our children, but is it the at the expense of ethical child-rearing? Maybe I'm just blowing this out of proportion, but I think that "Maggie" is something that arouses a lot of questions about how we should treat our youngsters.

Photo attribution: Jer Kunz