Transcript

Sound Partners Report #1
Aired 03/03/03
DN = David Nicholas, CMU Public Radio News Director
KC = Kelly Conley, a registered dietitian from Central Michigan District Health Department

Host intro:
The daily news brings us reports of health problems impacting many segments and ages in our population. CMU Public Radio begins a series of reports focused on one such problem affecting one of the most vulnerable groups—the question of “Healthy Weight in Preschool Children.”

KC:
Habits and lifestyle happen as soon as a child is able to communicate. They mimic what they see; they want to do what everyone else is doing. And if you aren’t starting to teach any of these good habits to children until the age of 5 or later, you are missing a big portion of teaching children the good habits of regular exercise, activity, that fast food may be occasional, not all the time…

DN:
Kelly Conley is a Registered Dietician, working for the Central Michigan District Health Department. She counsels high-risk candidates in the WIC program for a six-county service area.

I spoke with her to begin to develop the idea of “Healthy Weight in Preschool Children,” the topic for Sound Partners, a grand-funded series of reports. Over the next year, we at CMU Public Broadcasting will be looking at this issue from many angles: the historical trends that have brought the issue into prominence, the consequences it is causing from these youngest children through adulthood and the particular impact on certain populations. Also, what measures can be taken toward prevention.

Do we have a measure of what healthy weight is? According to Conley, we have such a measure that is used for all age groups…

KC:
The CDC has come out with ways to monitor obesity in children with something they use also in adults, Body Mass Index. It expresses the relationship of weight to height and it’s used to screen and monitor the risk of obesity. We know that we can have the parents BMI (and that is a genetic risk factor for some children). They are able to take any one that has a BMI of 85 to 95% of the norm would be considered to be in the overweight category. And they found that the fastest growing group is those 2 to 5 years of age. The prevalence of obesity has increased from 8.5% up to 10.2%.

DN:
When it comes to the definition of “healthy weight,” one may ask about eating disorders, most commonly anorexia nervosa or bulimia. However, these have not shown to be measurable in this particular age group. The occurrence of obesity is of growing concern, as the stats bear out—children age 2 to 5 are the fastest growing age group with trends toward obesity.

The easy conclusion is preschool aged children, along with so much else of the population, are eating more and exercising less. Although Conley says quality of diet is contributing to the problem, the basic ratio of food and exercise is getting worse…

KC:
I think it’s a combination of the two. There is a genetic tendency for anyone to have the risk of obesity. And that is why we use Body Mass Index in parents to screen for the possibility of these factors as they get older. Body Mass Index uses their weight and their height. If the parents are relatively short, their risks of possibly gaining more weight and having a higher Body Mass Index would be greater than a child who is five inches taller and weighs the same amount. So genetics does play a part in it. There also are genes identified that relate to obesity, but it’s also in conjunction with the sedentary lifestyle and dietary patterns. Whether it is eating fast food, drinking too many liquids, be it juice, pop, other sugar containing drinks or even sometimes drinking too much milk.

DN:
The question of healthy weight in preschool children—the building of the good habits for diet and exercise is important for these youngsters as they begin their journey through life. It is one of many health issues that stations across the country are exploring throughout the next year, through the Sound Partners Program. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Benton Foundation issued the call to radio and television stations willing to devote the time to raise awareness in their communities, and they have provided funding for projects like ours for stations nationwide. I’m David Nicholas reporting for CMU Public Radio.