South Suburban Family Health

Childhood Obesity

In 1997, the World Health Organization declared obesity a global epidemic with major health implications. The health implications are numerous. Hypertension, Diabetes, poor sleep and poor self-esteem are just a few. Up to 80% of obese youth continue the trend into adulthood. Some parents feel they do not have the resources or knowledge to fully help their children to get healthy but they truly do. At South Suburban Family Health(SSFH) we will give parents and children the tools needed to take control of their weight.

There are many factors that contribute to obesity. Some children may have specific medical or genetic conditions that can be associated with obesity.
There are specific nutritional factors that contribute to the increase in obesity rates, as well, and include, (1) insufficient infant breast feeding, (2) a reduction in fiber, fruit and vegetable intake and (3) the excessive consumption of oversized fast-foods and soda. Although, nutritional issues have a significant role to play, decreased energy expenditure (i.e. lack of exercise, excessive sedentary behaviors) is equally responsible for this increase in obesity in our youth. Children and youth are more inactive than ever. With the widespread availability of television, videos, computers and video games, children are not as active today. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey indicated that 26% of American children (43% of African –American children, up to 33% of Hispanic children) watch at least 4 hrs of television per day. These children were also more overweight than those who watched less than 2 hours of television per day.

Not only are rates of sedentary activities increasing, participation in physical activity outside of school is not adequate. There are many factors that put particular individuals at risk of having low levels of physical activity. Children living in poverty, children with disabilities, children living in apartments or public housing and children living in neighborhoods where outdoor physical activity is restricted by safety concerns or lack of facilities. These issues take time and joint effort among different groups in order to solve them.

The successful treatment of obesity in children is multidimensional. A program that includes dietary counseling and modification, exercise and family-based behavioral modification is ideal and has been shown to produce enhanced weight loss and better maintenance of weight loss over 5 years. Improvements in weight have been shown to occur when television viewing is restricted to less than 2 hours per day! The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours of quality television programming per day for children over 2 years of age.

Given the challenges that exist in reversing obesity, preventive tactics are likely to be the key to success. Physical activity needs to be promoted at home, in the community and at school. Each school or school district is required to set goals for healthy nutrition, physical activity and other strategies to promote student wellness.

Age-Appropriate Recommendations for Physical Activity

Infants and Toddlers
The AAP recommends that children younger than 2 years not watch any television. Parents should be encouraged to provide safe, nurturing, and minimally structured play environment for their infant. Infant and toddlers should be allowed to develop enjoyment of outdoor physical activity and unstructured exploration. Such activities include walking in the neighborhood, unorganized free play outdoors, and walking through a park or zoo.

Preschool-Aged Children (4-6Years)
Free play should be encouraged with emphasis on fun, playfulness, exploration and experimentation. Appropriate activities might include running, swimming, tumbling, throwing and catching. Limit television time to less than 2 hours per day.

Elementary School Aged Children (6-9 Years)
In this age group, children improve their motor skills, visual tracking, and balance. These children should be encouraged to walk, dance, or jump rope and may enjoy playing miniature golf. Organized sports (soccer, baseball) should have flexible rules, allow free time in practices and focus on enjoyment rather than competition.

Middle School aged Children (10-12 Years)
Focus on enjoyment with family members and friends should be encouraged. Weight training may be initiated, provided that the program is well-supervised, that small free weights are used with high repetitions, that proper techniques is demonstrated and that shorter sets using heavier weights and maximum lifts are avoided.

Adolescents
Adolescents are highly social and influenced by their peers. Identifying activities that are of interest to the adolescent, especially those that are fun and include friends, is crucial for long term participation. Physical activities may include dance, yoga, running, walking, cycling or even household chores. Competitive and non-competitive sports are also included.

The prevalence of pediatric obesity has reached epidemic proportions. The promotion of decreased caloric intake and increased energy expenditure is crucial if we are to be successful in decreasing childhood obesity. Making exercise alternatives as exciting, attractive, and enjoyable as video games, convincing school boards to fund Physical Education and other school-based physical activity opportunities and changing consumer attitudes about food selection and portion sizes are among our challenges. We must continue to educate ourselves and our children about the choices we make and the impact for our health today and in the future.

For more information on combating childhood obesity contact Dr. Michelle Meeks or Dr. Tonja Austin at South Suburban Family Health, 708-672-1600.

Acute and Chronic Pain

There are 2 types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain doesn’t last long and usually goes away as your body heals. Chronic pain lasts at least 6 months after your body has healed. Sometimes, when people have chronic pain they don’t know what is causing it. Along with discomfort, chronic pain can cause low self-esteem, depression and anger, and it can interfere with your daily activities.

Treatment of chronic pain usually involves medicines and therapy. Medicines used for chronic pain include pain relievers, antidepressants and anticonvulsants. Different types of medicines help people with different types of pain. You usually use long-acting medicines for constant pain. Short-acting medicines treat pain that comes and goes.

Several types of therapy can help ease your pain. Physical therapy (such as stretching and strengthening activities) and low-impact exercise (such as walking, swimming or biking) can help reduce the pain. However, exercising too much or not at all can hurt chronic pain patients. Occupational therapy teaches you how to pace yourself and how to do ordinary tasks differently so you won’t hurt yourself. Behavioral therapy can reduce your pain through methods (such as meditation and yoga) that help you relax. It can also help decrease stress.



Lifestyle changes are also an important part of treatment for chronic pain. Getting regular sleep at night and not taking daytime naps should help. Stopping smoking helps, too, because the nicotine in cigarettes can make some medicines less effective. Smokers also have more pain than nonsmokers.

Most pain treatments will not take away all of your pain. Instead, treatment should reduce how much pain you have and how often it occurs. Talk to your doctor to learn how to best control your pain.

Telling your doctor about your pain will help him or her find the right treatment for you. Tell your doctor where the pain is, how bad it is and how often your pain occurs. Also talk about what makes the pain better or worse. 

Your doctor may review other health problems (such as arthritis, breathing problems and heart conditions) you may have because these may keep you from doing some types of therapy. Your doctor may also ask if you have had any problems with sleep, mood or anxiety.

Obesity Linked to Ovarian Cancer

Do you need another reason to get up and get moving? Well, researchers have now linked obesity to ovarian cancer. Obese older women who have never taken postmenopausal hormones are almost at double the risk of developing ovarian cancer when compared to their normal weight peers. It is thought that the increase is partly due to the increased estrogen produced by fat cells of the body.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute published this study in February’s Cancer journal.

The study looked at 9,525 women ages 50-71. Over a seven year period, 303 developed ovarian cancer. The women who were obese and had never used hormone therapy and had a BMI (body mass index) of 30 or more, were 1.83 times more likely to have developed the cancer than women of normal weight.

Obesity did not play a role if the woman had a family history of the disease.

Oral Contraceptive use and having had children are associated with decreased risk of ovarian cancer, while family history and hormone therapy use are associated with an increased risk.

This study will not be the last word on this topic but it gives us one more reason to get healthy and lose weight.

Over two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight. The American Academy of Family Physicians recommend moderate-intensity aerobic activity(i.e. brisk walk) at least 30-60 minutes 5 times per week, or vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (e.g. jogging) for 20 minutes or longer 3 times per week. Resistance or weight training is recommended twice per week.

At least half of us Americans are not getting adequate physical activity which contributes to the increasing rates of obesity, chronic illness and cancer.