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Fat or fit?

Experts say childhood health is family responsibility

With soaring summer temperatures around the clock, it’s so easy for weary parents to give in to takeout. Bringing home buckets of fried chicken, bags of hamburgers and boxes of cheese-loaded pizzas can become a habit that’s hard to break.

Add to that popular sugary drinks and it all makes for a fattening season spent in front of the TV or video-game console.

It’s a dangerous routine, health experts say, one that puts Arizona’s children at risk for serious consequences, including childhood obesity and diabetes. Hispanic kids are even more at risk, as studies by the Centers for Disease Control show.

"Kids as a whole aren’t getting enough physical activity," says Eric Day, physical activity coordinator for the nutritional and activity program at the Arizona Department of Health Services.

"My personal feeling is that parents have a lot of influence over what their kids eat and how much time they spend playing video games and watching TV," he adds.

But as the Arizona summer wears down kids’ ambitions to be physically active, parents should renew efforts to keep their children moving.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, maintaining a healthy weight during childhood and adolescence may cut the risk of becoming overweight or obese as an adult. The CDC backs up Day’s recommendations to limit TV viewing and encourage kids to eat healthy and stay active.

But parents must also be aware of other nutritional tools, points out Carmen D. Ramirez, community program coordinator for the Arizona Department of Health Services. It helps to know your family history. For example, a pregnant woman with gestational diabetes who gives birth to a baby weighing nine pounds or more runs the risk of becoming diabetic later in life, as does her infant, Ramirez says.

Another way to check your child’s risk is to calculate his or her body mass index (BMI), which measures the amount of body fat. For children, BMI is age and sex specific, meaning that body fat changes with age and is different between boys and girls. To figure your child’s BMI, use the calculator for children and teens at www.cdc.gov, the CDC’s Web site.

Ramirez also strongly urges parents to practice reading nutritional labels, and to teach that tactic to their kids. The labels contain per-serving nutritional information on sugar and fat content, amounts of carbohydrates and fiber and serving size.

The CDC recommends 60 minutes of activity daily for children, Day says.

"This means moderate to vigorous intensity per day, not continuous," he says, adding that such activities as walking the dog, playing soccer or basketball, gardening or swimming can help burn calories.

Ramirez also suggests checking out programs at the local Y or parks and recreation centers, or making daily activity a family contest, with rewards for reaching goals.

"The key is finding what kids like to do, what resonates with kids, and supporting them," Day says.