3/13/06...In just a decade, childhood
obesity has become a hot topic of
conversation in schools, churches, community organizations, parent
groups, and certainly in public health and the healthcare industry
as a whole. Unfortunately,
if you look at the data you will see there is a reason to
be concerned. The percentage of children who are considered to be
overweight has tripled in the last 30 years, from 5% in the 1960's
to about 15% today. Statistics help us identify a problem we can
see everywhere. As adults, we worry about our own health risks when
we put on pounds, but children face the same risks. Fifty percent
of these children/teens will remain overweight as they become adults.
They have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, high
cholesterol and asthma. 60% of children ages 5 to 10 who are overweight
have at least one associated cardiovascular risk factor, such as
elevated blood pressure or increased insulin levels. That means
they have a higher risk of developing heart disease and stroke later
in life. Nearly as damaging are the psychological consequences.
Overweight children are often teased, resulting in low self-esteem
and poor body image. There are several contributing factors, but one of
the most basic reasons is they take in more calories than they need
for normal growth, while burning too few. Dr. Walt Larimore's book
Super-sized Kids tells us that teens are taking in about 300 calories
more each day than they did twenty years ago, and they burn about
300 calories less each day; the net effect is 600 more calories
per day that are stored as fat. It takes only an extra 100 calories
a day to lead to a ten pound weight gain in a year's time. How does this happen? Families are busy and often
turn to convenience foods to save time. Pre-packaged and frozen
foods are often higher in calories. Families eat out more now, and
often the menu items are less nutritious and higher in fat than
home-cooked foods. Servings are often larger than what we need. According to Dr. Larimore's book, the serving size of an average
soft drink increased from 13 ounces (144 calories) in 1977
to almost 20 ounces (250 calories) in 1998. He says cheeseburgers
grew from 5.8 ounces (397 calories) in 1977 to 7.3 ounces (533 calories)
in 1998. Serving sizes seem bigger everywhere, causing Americans
to have a problem with 'portion distortion'; we no longer know what
is an appropriate serving size of food. And it's not hard to figure out that fewer calories are
burned because our children are less active than they used to be.
A survey from the August 2003 Pediatrics indicates children are
less active than in the past; leisure activity is increasingly sedentary,
because of access to television, videos, and computer games. The
survey says more than 25% of children ages 8 to 16 watch at least
4 hours of television every day. Children who watch TV tend to burn
fewer calories per minute than children involved in almost any other
activity, even those who read or do nothing. It is hard to believe,
but a sleeping child actually burns more calories than one who is
watching television. And watching TV usually also means eating snacks.
There are things that you, as a parent, guardian, or grandparent
can do to make a difference by creating a healthier environment
in which your children eat and play. Here are some suggestions..........
>>>Don't force or restrict the amount of food your
child eats; most children respond to the internal cues of hunger
and feeling full >>>Don't use food for comfort or as a reward >>>Don't offer sugary treats or dessert to encourage
your child to finish the meal >>>At age 2, replace whole milk with milk lower
in fat >>>Limit juice for children under age 6 to 4-6-
ounces a day >>>Limit how much pop, snacks, chips, cookies, etc
that you keep in the house >>>Keep healthy, low calorie snack foods handy,
including fruits, vegetables, and yogurt >>>Get information about the correct serving sizes
for your child; for example, children under age 4 really only need
about one half of an adult's serving portion; for more information
about serving sizes, visit the U.S.D.A.'s Food Pyramid site at http://www.foodpyramid.gov/ >>>As often as possible, eat together as a family
at home, and keep the TV off while you eat >>>Avoid snacking while watching TV >>>If you eat fast food, look for healthy items
on the menu, and avoid the super size >>>Get your whole family active! Limit TV viewing;
take the TV out of your child's room; don't let a child under age
2 even watch TV, and limit TV time for older children to two hours
a day >>>Children are naturally active and eager to walk,
run, and jump - encourage them! >>>Plan family activities that will get everyone
walking, bicycling, or swimming. >>>Enroll your child in a structured activity that
he/she enjoys such as soccer, ice skating, tennis, gymnastics, basketball,
tee ball , baseball, dance, etc. You need to be their role model.
Teach your children to be active when they are young. Help them
establish healthy habits that will last lifetime.
The
Women, Infants, and Children program provides
nutrition education, including information on dietary and lifestyle
changes, nutritious foods, and medical and social service referrals
to qualifying families, based on income. For more information call
431-2662. Diane Birky BS, CLE
WIC Nutritionist.
2/6/06.....Preparation
or panic? Information or hype? Whether it is talk about
bioterrorism or bird flu, you will get responses reflecting either
viewpoint. Honestly, there are more than a few well-placed individuals
within the Vermilion County community who have a habit of rolling
their eyes when either subject comes up, especially if it involves
emergency preparedness. Understandably, planning and preparing for
emergencies or disasters that may never occur takes time and money.
But is it a waste of time to plan how to respond to emergency situations
and then test those plans to see if they work? Is it over reacting
to prepare? I would argue it is never a waste of either time or
resources to ensure you know what to do and how to do it correctly
during an emergency. Currently, the Vermilion County Health Department
is focusing a great deal of time and resources assessing and planning
what we will be able to do in emergencies that impact the county,
and training our staff to ensure they know how to respond. Responding to emergencies is nothing new to public
health; what is new is how we respond. The expectations that are
being placed on public health have changed dramatically. Since John
Snow identified and then determined how to contain the cause of
a cholera outbreak in London back in the 1800's, the traditional
public health response role has been to investigate, identify, and
contain, as well as to prevent future disease outbreaks. But this
is not Dr. Snow's world any more, and the roles and responsibilities
of public health are blurring as public risks increase. The state's
former public health director, Dr. John Lumpkin often said if a
public health worker could hold up a thumb and see any part of an
emergency event occurring around it, the person was too close to
the scene. In other words, we have never been expected to be first
responders to emergency scenes, until now, when we are expected
to play a significant role in ensuring the public's health and well
being. Our challenge is in understanding exactly what that role
is. Unfortunately over the last few years, we have all
learned too much about our vulnerabilities to acts of terrorism,
and to acts of nature. We saw the terror of 9-11, we watched the
tragic impact of hurricanes unfold in the south; here in Vermilion
County we experienced first hand life without water and power for
days at a time. While we learn to live with daily risk, most of
us are developing a healthy respect for planning and preparedness.
Since the World Trade Center attacks, dollars have
flowed freely from the feds to the state to the locals - local emergency
responders, local emergency management, local governments, local
hospitals, local law enforcement, and local public health - to fund
preparedness. All of us have benefited in some way from the funding
streams dedicated to anti-terrorism and emergency preparedness.
Many local health departments have used federal and state grant
dollars to update aging or non-existent infrastructure, as well
as to provide staff training for public health workers who now face
new expectations about how they will respond in emergencies. While Vermilion County might not be a likely target
for bioterrorism, we are vulnerable to natural disasters, chemical
accidents, and health threats, just like most communities. A situation
in which residents of Vermilion County would need emergency medications
is a real possibility. I will leave the speculation about bird flu
or a pandemic to the health experts who know much more about those
issues than me. Most health experts, however, say it is not a matter
of if another pandemic will occur, but when. Last
year, we completed and filed with the state our emergency
response plans, including how we will access and then dispense the
federal stockpile of emergency medications, if it is necessary.
Designing a plan to dispense emergency medications to 83,000 people
within 48 hours has been a challenge. And to be honest with you,
it is an ongoing process, because the requirements and expectations
continue to evolve. After filing our plans with the state last year, we
called the first meeting of Vermilion County's Public Health Emergency
Response Advisory Committee, including representatives from the
medical community, first responders, emergency management, local
government, law enforcement, mental health, Red Cross and others
who would be involved in a time of emergency. We can never hope
to successfully distribute medications to Vermilion County residents
without our community partners. In November, we worked with the state, local hospitals,
emergency management, and law enforcement to test our ability to
receive medications from the state's emergency stockpile. This month,
we were to host an exercise testing our ability to then dispense
those emergency medications at our designated dispensing site. But
the exercise has been pushed back to late spring, as we await new
directions from the state.
In the meantime, we are working on plans to distribute medications
to the public, to emergency responders and their families, and segments
of the population with special needs. We are also looking at the
feasibility of distributing medications through local worksites.
We believe this may be a proactive way to expand our ability to
distribute medications efficiently and effectively. Between now and late spring, we will design the exercise
to be tested. We participated in a regional exercise last fall at
Parkland College, so we know what a challenge this will be. We look
to our community partners for help, as well as you, the public.
For our exercise to be successful, we will need volunteers to participate,
portraying people who are moving through the lines seeking medications.
If you are interested in being part of the exercise, or want to
know more about our efforts, call me at 431-2662, or email me at
lbolton@vchd.org. Meanwhile, we will work on our plan, hoping we
never have to use it.
1/9/06...A new year is underway!
By now, most of us have taken that long list of New Year's
resolutions we made a few weeks ago and pitched it. It always seems
so easy before the New Year starts to list the things we want to/need
to/have to, change as the old year wraps up. Usually, once the parties
are over, decorations come down, and life returns to normal, keeping
those resolutions becomes hard. Many of the items on our lists relate
to healthier lives. And it should be no surprise to anyone that
quitting smoking tops the list. Smokers have been inundated with information on the
harmful effects of smoking since 1964 when the US Surgeon General
came out with the first report on smoking and health. Smokers know
the risks they take by smoking, but they still smoke. I asked Linda
Bolton, who coordinates anti-tobacco programs for us here in Vermilion
County if she had some data I could share with you. A couple of
things really stand out when you look at smoking in Vermilion County.
Statewide, 23.6% of adults say they smoke; in Vermilion County,
that number jumps to 30.1%. In 2002, 27.8% of Vermilion County moms
said they smoked during pregnancy; statewide, it was 10%. Whether
you smoke or not, you need to understand second hand smoke affects
the little ones in your life. The problems created by smoking can start early. Couples
who smoke may actually have difficulty conceiving. Male smokers
have been found to have lower sperm counts than men who do not smoke.
Those that are able to conceive are at an increased risk for miscarriages,
tubal pregnancies, and preterm deliveries; when moms smoke, so do
their babies. Premature, under weight babies are often born to moms who
smoke. If you smoke during pregnancy, toxins are carried
in your blood stream across the placenta to the developing fetus,
causing decreased blood flow and reduced oxygen supply to the fetus.
Research continues into what causes low birth weight in babies;
many of the studies so far show smoking during pregnancy as a significant
part of the problem. Babies born to mothers who smoke can weigh
almost half a pound less than those of non-smokers. That may not
sound like a lot, but birth weight is a critical indicator of an
infant's survival chances. Ounces matter. Simply put, the more you
smoke, the smaller the baby. So if you find that you cannot quit
smoking before you become pregnant, at least cut down. Recent studies
have shown that if a woman is able to stop smoking as late as her
fourth month of pregnancy, some of the effects of low birth weight
maybe eliminated. But please do not misunderstand my message: don't
smoke when you are pregnant. Once you give birth, there are additional areas of concern.
Research continues to prove children are particularly vulnerable
to second hand smoke for a variety of reasons. Children's bodies
are small and their immune system is still developing. Because they
have smaller airways, children breathe at a faster rate. A child
can breathe in more harmful chemicals per pound than an adult who
is exposed to second hand smoke for the same amount of time. And
a child has less control of his environment than an adult; a six
month old infant cannot get up and leave a smoke-filled room. Unfortunately, there is a long list of risks to children exposed
to second hand smoke: increased risk of SIDS (sudden infant
death); increased risk for asthma; children who have already been
diagnosed with asthma, experience an increase in the frequency and
severity of attacks; increased bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory
illnesses; and acute and chronic ear infections. A study done in
1996 suggests that 13% of ear infections in the US were caused by
tobacco smoke. When we talk about the harm tobacco smoke can cause to our
children, think about research done by a Yale University
epidemiologist. He found a connection between cancer and children
who grow up in a home in which their parents smoke. About one in
six cases of lung cancer in nonsmokers may be the result of second
hand smoke during childhood. If both parents smoke for 12 ½
years each, their child's risk of developing cancer later in life
is doubled! Even if you are willing to accept the risks associated
with tobacco - heart attack, stroke, or cancer, why would you put
your child at risk? So what can you do to make sure your baby is born healthy
and your child grows up healthy? If you won't quit, then
smoke outside your home; if you must smoke inside, limit smoking
to one room where you can keep the door closed, and open windows
to allow ventilation. Never smoke in a child's bedroom. Don't smoke
while you are washing, dressing or playing with your child, or have
your child close by. Never smoke in your vehicle when children are
present. If you do smoke at other times in your vehicle, open the
windows. Of course the best choice you can make for you children is
to quit smoking. That is not easy. But Linda Bolton asked
me to let you know there is help available through the Vermilion
County Health Department. The first cessation class of the New Year
just started up; classes are free and meet once a week for 4 weeks.
Class participants can access up to 4 weeks of patches free. Call
Linda at 431-2662, ext 241 or email her at lbolton@vchd.org to sign
up for the next class. If you can't make it to a class, the health
department also has an agreement with the Illinois Quitline, sponsored
by the American Lung Association. You can get counseling to help
you quit over the phone, and get 4 weeks of free patches from us.
Call the Quitline at 1-866-784-8937. Please just do something! Give your child a healthy
start in life. Make their lives - and yours - smoke free! For more
information, call us at 431-2662 or visit our website at www.vchd.org.
Pam Warner, RN, PHN
Nurse Coordinator
Healthy Moms/Healthy Kids
Vermilion County Health Department
The LifeLines Health column, written by Health
Department staff, appears the second Monday of every month in the
Danville Commercial News.
Danville Commercial-News Health Column