10a

interview with Professor
I interviewed a Professor in Community Nutrition at Metro State College two occasions on the telephone. The first one was on 3/18/09 and the second one was on 3/24/09. The interviews were approximately 50 minutes long.

Question – Concerning childhood obesity, is there a problem?

Prof. – Yes. Years ago, in a pediatric office, if a child had type II diabetes everyone would come to look at this case. Now, it is common to see children with type II diabetes. If an older person gets diabetes there are things they can do for him. They can delay the progression and with that, the consequences of the disease. If it begins with a child, they can delay the severe consequences, such as amputations, heart and blood vessel disease, nerve damage, kidney damage, eye damage and other serious consequences for perhaps 20 years but that puts the kid at 32 if he got it when he was 12!

In addition, the huge costs will ruin our country because the costs of chronic disease related to obesity are a tremendous cost to our country, not only in medical costs but in many other things in everyday life. One for example is airplane seats. It will cost a huge amount of money to fit larger seats on planes now because more people are too big to fit in them anymore. They’ll have to get larger hospital and long term care beds for bigger patients. These are just a few examples.

Question – What do you think is the cause of childhood obesity?

Prof. – The beverages we drink. Years ago you would get sent out of class for bringing even a bottle of water, now everyone has a drink on their desk. It’s not morally wrong to have a drink in class but this is just to show that we are always drinking something and it isn’t just plain water. It is flavored waters, energy drinks, soda, and different coffees, most of which are high in calories.
He said portion sizes, lack of exercise, and availability of fast foods on every corner and in schools are equally to blame.

Question – What or who do you think can help this problem?

Prof.- Parents or anyone can write letters to their congressmen concerning nutrition bills that attempt to improve our children’s nutrition. Parents can go to school meetings and ask for removal of junk foods on school grounds, and for removal of ads for junk food in school TV programs or busses.

No vending machines in schools, mandate healthy foods in school only, universal free lunch, and ban all unhealthy food ads.