According to a new book entitled How to Get Kids to Eat Great & Love It! by Christine Wood, M.D., the risk of developing degenerative diseases such as cancer, diabetes and obesity can be significantly reduced through proper nutrition beginning in childhood and continuing through adulthood.
Wood, a practicing pediatrician for 14 years and a leading spokesperson on children’s nutrition, also outlines in this book ways of dealing with other non-degenerative diseases such as allergies, asthma, ear infections and attention deficit disorder (ADD) with preventative measures and with nutritional supplementation and a balanced childhood diet.
Wood’s book, a result of her years of reviewing nutritional research, is divided into three basic sections.
The first section identifies the toxic conditions present in our environment today and why instilling lifelong healthy eating habits in our kids will help them battle the environment’s negative effects on their bodies.
The second section specifically outlines proper nutrition for every age group: infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school age children, and teens.
The final section provides research, case studies and tips on how environmental measures and in some cases, proper nutritional supplementation may reduce symptoms of common diseases such as allergies, asthma, ear infections, and ADD. She also presents compelling research on why certain nutrients may have an impact on our children’s future risk of degenerative diseases of aging, like heart disease and cancer. This is information that the parents who read this book will be able to apply to themselves.
In addition to providing nutritional information, guidelines and case studies, How to Get Kids to Eat Great & Love It! also includes several related appendixes with charts, tables and additional resource information.
“My goal for writing this book was to create an easy to understand, simple, but thorough, guide that instructs parents on how to teach their children to enjoy eating a balanced diet and living a healthy lifestyle. “
“As parents, we hope that our kids will be healthy and stay healthy. By understanding how to use nutritional supplements as protection against today’s environmental dangers and teaching a lifestyle of healthy eating habits and exercise, we can give them this gift,” Wood said.
Book Description
Soft bound, 8 ½ x 5, 220 pages, indexed, fully footnoted (126 footnotes), references, charts. Areas of interest: Nutrition, Health, Children, Medical , Parenting.
Christine (Ito) Wood, M.D., C.L.E. (certified lactation educator) is a practicing pediatrician with interests in healthy nutrition for children and the environmental and nutritional impact on health and disease. She is a compelling voice on the subject of children’s nutritional issues.
She is the author of the book, How to Get Kids to Eat Great & Love It! (second edition, Griffin Publishing Group, 2002). Filled with practical, easy-to-understand information for parents, she backs it up with science-based research to emphasize the nutritional links to disease. She maintains another website, Call Your Pediatrician, that was launched in 1997. It is a website for parents designed to give information on common illnesses, like colds, ear infections, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and more. Kids Weigh to Go is her program targeting families with overweight children.
Dr. Wood lectures to physicians and other health professionals (nurses, lactation consultants, dietitians, school nurses and others) on the topic of nutritional medicine for children and she gives seminars to parents on healthy lifestyle practices for children. She has lectured throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Dr. Wood is a spokesperson for an international nutritional company, USANA, and serves as the current Chairperson on their Medical Advisory Board.
Newsweek has had her as a guest writer for a special edition released in October 2000, called “Your Child.” Her interviews and articles have been published in magazines including: Redbook, Fit Pregnancy, Family Life, Exceptional Parent, Great Life to mention a few. A frequent guest on radio shows and also a noted expert on satellite media tour, she informs parents about the critical need for proper nutrition for children. If you would like to contact her regarding print interviews, speaking engagements, radio or television spots, please click here.
She is currently practicing pediatrics at El Camino Pediatrics. She attended the University of Detroit for her undergraduate degree and received her medical degree from the University of Michigan. She completed her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. She received her lactation educator certification from the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Wood explains that she found a need to address the questions her patients repeatedly ask regarding the role nutrition plays in the health of their children. Dr. Wood says, “Parents need to realize what an important job they have to teach their kids healthy eating habits, to use proper nutritional supplementation and to participate in regular physical activity. Parents must start today and model a healthy lifestyle and do all they can to create children who will eat healthy and be active. It is perhaps the greatest gift we can give our children . . .the gift of health now and long into the new millennium.
In lecturing to many different groups of health professionals, I find that there is a new, attitude on the horizon. Most traditionally trained health professionals are trained to understand the disease and the pharmacological approach to treating disease. We could call this “prescription pad medicine.”
However, the trend of consumers who use alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, chiropractic care, massage, vitamins and minerals has been steadily rising. In turn, many traditional physicians find that they must keep up with this trend, so that they may understand how these non-traditional therapies may impact their patients.
Health professionals accept the idea of “nutritional medicine” and the diet-disease connection in a peripheral sort of way. We know that increased fruit and vegetable intake lowers the risk of cancer. The new attitude I am finding is that there is more of a trend to learn and accept alternative therapies.
When I teach medical students in my office, I tell them that those we are willing to learn and accept certain non-traditional treatments, will be sought after by patients and offer a great service to their patients. Those that choose to remain close-minded will be left behind in this rapidly changing world.
It is not to say that non-traditional therapies are not without risks and certainly we know that they are not the cure for many diseases. Our role as a traditional physician or nurse is to understand a little more than our patients and be able to support or redirect them when we feel a non-traditional therapy is not worthwhile. However, to throw out the possibility of ever using alternative or complementary medicine, would be throwing away the possibility of helping certain diseases or maybe just making the patient feel better.
Remember, our first job is “to do no harm” and if we live by that standard, we should be able to “do more good.”
In speaking to my fellow pediatricians, we must recognize where we have been and where we may be going. Where we have been includes:
Folate was first recognized in the medical literature as preventing neural tube defects in infants when given to pregnant mothers in the 1960’s. It was not until 1992 that the U.S. Public Health Department recommended that folate be given to all women who may become pregnant and who are pregnant.
In the 1950’s, pediatricians took to the baby formulas as the best nutrition for infants. We certainly now all understand the tremendous health benefits of breast milk and support the American Academy of Pediatrics position on strongly urging women to breastfeed.
And where we may be going?
The fatty acid, DHA (docosahexanoic acid) was recognized as being important for infant brain development and the Food and Agriculture Organization and The World Health Organization Joint Expert Committee in 1994. At that time, they recommended that all infant formulas include DHA. DHA was added to infant formulas around the world (over 60 countries by 2001).
In 2001, the FDA completed a favorable review of Martek’s Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notification regarding the use of its DHA and AA (arachidonic acid) oil blend in infant formulas for the U.S. Now in 2002, companies have now launched infant formulas supplemented with DHA and AA (Mead-Johnson, Lipil®) http://www.enfamil.com/lipil/ and Beech-Nut has introduced the first baby food line, First Advantage®, supplemented with these important fats. To learn more about these fats, see my essential fatty acids page.
Mercury may be the next lurking toxin that will receive more attention in the pediatric literature. Mercury clearly affects the nervous system and public awareness of sources of mercury needs to be raised. I still find that many pregnant women have not heard the FDA recommendations to limit fish intake during pregnancy and breastfeeding to protect their developing infant from the possible devastating effects of this toxin.
Issues in the area of environmental toxins and its affect on our pediatric population and simple nutritional strategies and supplementation to decrease risks of disease need to continue to be researched and brought to the attention of those taking care of our young children. I challenge you to think of “nutritional pharmacology” and prescribe dietary interventions and lifestyle changes as freely as we prescribe antibiotics. The proper balance of “prescription pad medicine” and “nutritional medicine” in the right doses could do a world of difference.
There is a constant battle going on in the homes of many families, and this war has to do with food choices. In my own pediatric practice, some parents are concerned because of the lack of healthy food in their child’s diet. Some parents show little concern about their child’s eating habits. However, on further questioning, I find their child’s diet is filled with unhealthy food choices, lacks fruits and vegetables, or does not come close to reaching the recommended calcium requirements.
Trends have changed drastically over the last several decades, and these trends have changed the type of health problems our children face. Health officials are worried about the future of our children. Concerns that are being raised include:
Poor Eating Habits
Poor Eating Habits Evident in Our Children. A study from the journal Pediatrics surveyed 3,307 children, two to 19 years of age in the United States. Only one percent, that is 33 children, met all recommendations for the Food Pyramid Guide. Those that met all recommendations had nutrient intakes above the recommended dietary allowances and their diet was generally too high in fat.
Fast Food
Our children are growing up in a fast-food world, and they are being marketed to by advertisers with many unhealthy food choices. The truth is that most children are not getting the nutrition they need.
Cancer
Cancer on the Rise in Children More than Ever Before. Federal health experts have concerns about why cancer rates are on the rise in children. There are about 8,000 new cases of cancer in children under 15 years of age each year in the United States. Childhood cancer has risen steadily over the last 15 years. Acute lymphocytic leukemia is up 10 percent and brain tumors are up more than 30 percent in the last 15 years. Cancer has become the leading cause of death due to disease among children. In recent years, deaths from cancer have declined because of earlier detection and improved treatment, but experts are concerned that survival rates could be eclipsed because of the rising rates of new cases. Many experts, including Dr. Kenneth Cooper, author of the Antioxidant Revolution, feel that environmental toxins are in part responsible for this increase. Some experts estimate that as many as 80 percent of childhood cancers are caused by environmental factors.
Allergies and Asthma
Allergies and Asthma Now Affect Millions of Children. Statistics from 1994 from the Center for Disease Control found that asthma affects nearly 14 million Americans. This is nearly double the rate from 1980. Almost five million of these asthmatics are children. Asthma is the most prevalent chronic condition among children. Allergic rhinitis, commonly known as hay fever, affects 26 million Americans. The role of air pollution and other toxins have been implicated in contributing to this rise in allergies and asthma.
Environmental Toxins and Unsafe Food
Exposure to Environmental Toxins and Unsafe Food on the Rise Daily. Experts have concerns about the hazards of various toxins on the health of children. For example, studies on safety levels of pesticides are based on the adult male. We do not really know what that safety level is for children. The contamination of food has become an issue as the media brings attention to cases of Salmonella, E.coli, and hepatitis transmitted via unsafe foods.
Hot dogs and bologna are typical “kid foods,” but they contain risks if eaten in large amounts. Nitrates are preservatives found in virtually all cooked and cured meats. Nitrates have a cosmetic function in that they preserve the pinkish color of meats. The concern with nitrates is that when they combine with gastric juices in the stomach, they form a chemical called nitrosamine. Nitrosamines have been found to be carcinogenic in most species of animals tested. Antioxidants like vitamin E, A and C when consumed at the same time may offer protection against its cancer-causing effects. The US government requires meat packers to add ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to meats with nitrates.
Nitrates also have an effect on the hemoglobin which carries oxygen in the blood cells. High levels of nitrates cause “blue baby syndrome,” a condition caused by lack of oxygen in the blood. Because infants have less hemoglobin, they are at risk for side effects from nitrates. Nitrates are banned from baby foods because of this recognized toxicity. Other symptoms of nitrate toxicity can include difficulty breathing, dizziness, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Some European countries have banned nitrates from their food supply.
For this reason, foods with nitrates should be given sparingly to children. Look for nitrate-free meats and hot dogs in the freezer section. Vegetarian hot dogs do not contain nitrates. If your child does eat food with nitrates, have them eat or drink something high in vitamin C at the same time. Also marinating meats in honey marinades can reduce the nitrosamine formation in grilled foods – but remember honey is not to be given to infants under a year of age.
Much of the decline in diet quality for children occurs between the age groups two to three and four to six. During this period, the percentage of children having a good diet falls from 35 to 16 percent, and the percentage having a diet that needs improvement rises from 60 to 75 percent.
For young children, an extra 50 calories a day of unburned calories (not used for growth, activity or metabolism) can create five extra pounds of fat a year.
Between one and two years of age, normal weight gain is about 2 to 3 pounds a year. Between three and eight years old, expected weight gain is about 5 pounds a year. So those extra 50 unburned calories a day can double the expected weight gain.
Currently 22% of the US Adult population has a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30 and 3% have a BMI greater than 40 – about 100 pounds overweight. See Health Trends.
If a baby between 6 months and 5 years of age is overweight, he has a 20% chance of being overweight as an adult. An overweight 7 year old has a 41% chance of being overweight as an adult. If the child is between 10 and 13 years of age and overweight, the chances are 70% he/she will be overweight as an adult.
Children who were overweight at age seven were more likely to have multiple risk factors for heart disease as an adult. There was more risk for having increased insulin levels, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Reduction in the rate of weight gain during childhood or adolescence had the potential to reduce the levels of young adult cardiovascular risk.
Children may think they are being active, but a research study showed that when kids (ages 11 to 13) were electronically monitored they were spending far more time sitting around than they thought. Children who said they played vigorously for one hour a day, actually had spent about 2 minutes being vigorously active.
Soft drinks contribute significantly to the increased sugar load in our diets.
Americans are eating more processed snack foods a day than ever. There are about 12,000 new foods introduced annually each year.
What is a parent to do when faced with the challenge of a child who is overweight?
What is overweight?
First we need to define what it means to be overweight. Growth charts need to be used; you can’t always tell by looking. Sometimes an overly concerned parent, may assess their truly normal-weighted child as being overweight. On the other hand, studies have shown that many parents tend to overlook their child’s obesity. New growth charts have been released by the Center for Disease Control and you can download the “Individual charts with all percentiles” at http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts. Especially important are the “weight-for-length,” “weight-for-stature,” and “body mass index for age” charts for your child’s age group. Body mass index (BMI) has advantages over other methods of monitoring obesity in children and adolescents and the charts can be downloaded for children 2 to 20 years of age. It correlates closer to actual body fat measurements.
Here is how to calculate Body Mass Index:
BMI = (Weight in pounds ÷ [Height in inches ]2) x 703 Example: A 33 pound child is 37 inches tall
(33 ÷ [37 x 37]) x 703 = (33 ÷ 1369) x 703 = 0.024105 x 703 = 16.9
Metric Formula:
BMI = Weight in kilograms ÷ [Height in meters]2 Example: A 17 kg child is 106 cm tall (NOTE: 1 meter = 100 cm)
17 kg ÷ (1.06 m x 1.06 m) = 17 ÷ 1.1236 = 15.1
Here is how we can interpret BMI percentiles:
Underweight: BMI-for-age 5th percentile At risk of overweight: BMI-for-age 85th percentile Overweight: BMI-for-age 95th percentile
Identifying Risks
Now let’s say you have identified your child as being overweight or at risk for being overweight. Maybe you have just started to notice a recent trend of increasing BMI. First, check with your health care professional to make sure that there may not be a medical cause for weight gain. Occasionally, hormone disorders like hypothyroidism, may cause subtle weight gain without the child appearing ill. Once you are comfortable with a medical examination, think about changes in eating habits or caretakers that may be contributing to weight gain. Sometimes a change in the child’s lifestyle can be identified as a contributor to overeating or just eating more unhealthy food choices. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Is there a daycare provider, nanny, or relative that allows constant snacking or frequent, unhealthy snack choices?
Have family activities or busy schedules allowed more fast food on the run to creep into the family menu?
Has there been environmental changes that don’t allow exercise – new neighborhood without playmates or the convenience of outdoor areas to play, family stress, more sedentary activities around like Nintendo, Game Boy, computers, TV in the bedroom of the child, off season for your child’s usual sport activity?
Does your child have a physical problem that may limit activity, like asthma, orthopedic problem?
Are other family members also struggling with weight issues or more recent weight gain because of family lifestyle and eating habits?
Sometimes, in examining these questions honestly, we can identify risk factors or changes in our lifestyle that may be contributing to our child’s weight gain.
Fats for Toddlers
Toddlers should not be restricted in their fat intake. There brain is laying down lots of new neuronal cells that need fat. See Essential Fatty Acids for more information on this concept. It does not mean allowing unlimited high-fat, high-sugar foods. Here are some guidelines for toddlers:
Make sure you are offering whole milk, not two percent, one percent or non-fat until after two years of age. Toddlers need the extra fat for brain development. They may receive more than 40 percent of their daily calories as fat.
This does not mean allowing unlimited fat and butter.
Once children have reached two years of age, decrease milk to one percent or two percent. If you feel your toddler is overweight, talk to your pediatrician to see if this is really the case. Many toddlers appear chubby, but are proportional on the growth curves. If your toddler is on the heavy side, you may want to use one percent milk.
The American Society for Nutritional Sciences and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition are looking to give children their own dietary guidelines. Rather than insisting that children consume a low fat diet (less than 30 percent of calories derived from fat) after age two, the 1995 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recommended that there be a gradual change in dietary fat intake between the ages of two and five towards the heart-healthy diet.
Practical Tips of Controlling Weight Issues
Remember, that prevention is the key. If your child is at risk according to BMI calculations and over two years of age, you can start to take some simple steps to intervene. Being overly concerned about a child’s weight may lead to the development of eating disorders. If your child is slightly chubby and worried about their weight, try to make him feel comfortable about his image. Even if he is markedly overweight, let him know he is still special!
Having family members accuse a child of being fat is destructive to the his self-esteem. The key with overweight children is, not making them go on a diet or go hungry, but by offering them healthy food choices, cutting out high fat snacks, and encouraging exercise. Nagging, criticizing, and pressuring them is not the way to handle the overweight child.
It also has to be a family-oriented issue and not just directed at the overweight child. Most often, it is about the family lifestyle or eating habits. If dad is allowed to eat candy and sweets in front of the child and the child is told, “No,” resentment and battles will most likely follow. The most successful weight-loss programs for children are those that are also directed to an overweight parent losing weight, also.
Children have the advantage over adults in that they are still gaining height. Usually, the goal is not necessarily weight loss, but a slow up in the rate of gain. This is often enough to create a thinning effect as they age.
Here are some practical tips for controlling weight problems and overeating in children:
Prevention is the key. Following growth throughout childhood can identify children at risk. If children are overweight before adolescence, the goal is to try to maintain the same weight. This way, as children gain in height, they will thin out.
Have the whole family model healthy eating patterns. If the child is discouraged from certain food choices, but other family members are allowed those choices, the child will feel singled out as having a problem. Make healthy eating a family choice.
Add a family physical activity, like walking or biking.
Don’t calorie-restrict children. Don’t take the message of dieting or low fat or no fat eating to the extreme. Don’t obsess with your child over every fat gram and sugar calorie. The goal is to make better choices, but still fulfill a normal eating pattern.
Decrease fat intake. With many lower fat choices of foods available, this is getting easier. However, don’t be fooled. Even low fat foods in excess quantities can lead to weight gain, and some low fat foods are high in sugar.
Don’t forbid junk food and the less healthy foods, just use them less often.
Limit fast foods.
Cook at home with low fat cooking techniques.
Share meals when eating out. Pick healthier choices off the adult menu, rather than limiting their choices to the Kids Menu.
Use more grains, soy (like tofu), and beans instead of meats.
Make water the beverage of choice over juice and soda.
Use one percent or non-fat milk. (REMEMBER: Children under two years of age are encouraged to drink whole milk to obtain the extra fat they need for brain development.)
Encourage and find physical activities that the child enjoys.
Limit television, computer, and video game time.
Don’t allow snacking in the car, in front of the television, or while doing homework. Studies have shown that eating in front of the television is a large factor in creating weight problems.
Do not use food to punish or reward children.
Monitor the school lunch program and encourage more packed lunches if the school lunch is not a good example.
Seek professional help with your pediatrician or nutritionist if you are having difficulty.
Love and appreciate your children no matter what their size.
Picky eaters are one of the most common feeding problems I am asked about in my pediatric practice. How many times have you faced these scenarios in your home:
the toddler who takes two bites of food and then says “all done”
the child who will only eat five varieties of food and so you prepare those foods day after day
the child who says he wants food x, then after you prepare food x, he states he wants food y, and then after you get food y, he says, “No” he wants food z now.
having daily mealtime battles where you find yourself bribing, coaxing and nagging bites of food into your child’s mouth
If this sounds like your household, then read on to discover tricks on how to deal with the picky eater. Click here to get also about The Overeater.
The first goal to is to not create mealtime battles. Battles at the dinner table will usually only make a picky eater pickier. It’s not worth the battle! Realize that toddlers in that 1 to 3 year range have small appetites and don’t seem to need to eat as much. Also, life is just too exciting and there are higher priorities around other than sitting at the dinner table. As you see in all aspects of a toddler’s behavior, they are seeking a new level of independence and control. If you are trying to control them from touching the TV set, they see it as a game will try to do it and look right at you. If you are trying to control every bite of food, they see it as their job to do the opposite.
If you are dealing with older children, you need to set up some guidelines. The one bite rule can be effective for most kids. They need to at least try the bite of all foods offered, and if they don’t like it, they don’t need to eat more. As parents, we have to hide our concern about whether they eat it or not. Another game to play is the allowing them to choose to eat three of the foods offered at the meal. One of the biggest problems I see develop are those parents who make the separate “kid” and “adult” meal every night. If this is you, then make some changes! Explain to your child that it is time for them to eat the things that you are eating. Be neutral in your reaction the first few nights of eating if they are refusing foods. Don’t battle. Try to have one or two things that you know they might eat (rice, bread, fruit, soup) and then sit back and see what happens. Remarkably, most children will gradually come around to expanding their horizons.
Below are numerous ideas for encouraging the picky eater:
Never coax, bribe, punish, nag. Avoid the battles! Hide your anxiety and concern about eating!
Keep introducing new foods over again. Don’t avoid it just because they didn’t like it once, they may change their mind.
Don’t worry about food fads or food strikes.
Don’t place more value on any one food on the plate.
Don’t dictate how much you think your child should eat. Let your child decide how much they will eat.
Use the one-bite rule. Encourage gently to try all foods on the plate. If they don’t like it, that’s fine.
Don’t rush through the meals, some children are just slow eaters.
Sometimes creating games with food can be fun for older kids (we don’t want to create a choking hazard for younger kids who can’t control the food in their mouth as well). Asparagus or green bean races, where they grab one asparagus or green bean and see who can fit it in their mouth first can make foods disappear. For those baby carrots in a bag where the bag is partly open, try to see who can extract a carrot without touching the plastic bag.
Change your buying habits if you find your child is “stuck on” certain unhealthy foods.
Offer fruits as dessert. Use it on its own as dessert or add it to ice cream, pudding or cake. Make your own fruit popsicles (have your child help you, it will have more value to them) out of fresh fruit, yogurt, juice or milk.
Try not to use dessert as a reward.
Avoid lots of juices, sodas and milk as substitutes for eating real food.
Avoid frequent snacking habits. Avoid snacks in the car or while standing around and playing. Use the snack plan for older kids.
Supplement with a healthy yogurt smoothie.
Disguise foods and combine foods they like with those they don’t like.
Try not to use dessert as a reward. For those stubborn kids who try to hold out for dessert, offer dessert with the main meal. Of course, make sure it is a small, reasonable serving. Most kids will not get full with a small dessert and then they are free to “indulge” in the rest of the meal.
Despite all the concern about fat in our diet, the body does require fat to function. The problem is that most people are getting the wrong kinds of fats in their diet and are lacking the good fats in their diets. Babies should not be on a low-fat diet. Most of their fat should be from formula and breast milk. The total fat concentration of formulas and breast milk is around 45 to 50 percent of the total calories.
There are two types of fats:
The bad guys: Saturated fats are the type that can clog arteries. These fats are solid at room temperature and are found in meat, milk, and poultry. High intakes of these fats have a correlation with an increased incidence of heart disease and strokes in later life. Trans fats, often listed as hydrogenated oils, are found in margarines, vegetable shortening and many processed foods such as in peanut butter, cakes, cookies, and crackers. Although listed as an unsaturated fat in Nutrition Facts labels, they are part of the bad guys.
The good guys: Unsaturated fatty acids are liquid or soft at room temperature. Oils such as corn, fish, peanut, safflower, sesame, soybean, sunflower, and olive fall into this category. The fatty acids that are necessary for the body and cannot be made by the body are called essential fatty acids (EFA). Essential fatty acids are part of the good fats that have been researched and found to have numerous health benefits.
Essential fatty acids help build nervous system tissue and help with the transmission of nerve impulses. They are also used by the body for the production of prostaglandins, hormone-like substances, that regulate various processes.
There are two major categories of EFA which are both considered polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). These are omega-3 (the major source is alpha-linolenic acid) and omega-6 (the major source is linoleic acid). Omega-3 EFA are found in fresh oily fish (canning causes some loss of EFA) like herring, mackerel, salmon, tuna, and anchovy. Omega-3 EFA are also found in fish oil, flaxseed oil, canola oil, and walnut oil. Omega-6 oils include corn oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, borage oil, grape seed oil, and primrose oil. Good sources of both omega-3 and omega-6 are Great Northern beans, kidney beans, navy beans, soybeans, and soybean oil.
Getting an adequate amount of essential fatty acids may present a challenge. The Western diet has moved away from a fish diet, and most of the fats in processed foods are the bad fats. Also consider that if your child does not get adequate amounts of the basic vitamins and minerals, their body may not process the EFA that is consumed. In order for EFA to be used correctly, they need certain co-factors like vitamin A, C, E and magnesium, selenium, zinc, and copper.
The primary problem is that the Western diet tends to be too high in omega-6 and too low in omega-3 fatty acid consumption. The typical American diet has a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of around 15 to 1. Diets with a ratio of about 4 to 1 have been shown to be healthier in research studies. One important study, known as the Lyon Diet Heart Study, looked at heart attack survivors.
Three different diets were assigned: a traditional heart diet, the “prudent” heart diet (recommended by the American Heart Association) and a modified version of the Crete diet. This last diet group received a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of 4 to 1.
Two years into the study, the study was stopped because survival rates of the Crete diet were so significant compared to the other two diet groups. There was a 76 percent lower risk of dying from a cardiovascular event with the Crete diet. Also laboratory animals who received a diet high in omega-6 fatty acids and low in omega-3 fatty acids had more invasive and faster growing tumors when implanted with cancer cells. Psychological tests found these animals also suffered with more difficulty through mazes and had more random behaviors.
If everything is working correctly, EFA along with their co-factors will become metabolized into prostaglandins in the body. These are important in the function of the immune system. Too much saturated fat can block the conversion of EFA to the desirable prostaglandins.
A malfunctioning immune system can lead to illness, and it also plays a role in allergies and autoimmune diseases (diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, juvenile diabetes, and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis). EFA may improve allergies, asthma, and a possible role in attention deficit disorder.
If you are breastfeeding, you should make sure you are including EFA in your diet. Diets that exclude fats and EFA can cause deficiency symptoms in the breastfed infant. Signs of an EFA deficiency can include dull hair, dry skin, dandruff, excessive thirst, and frequent urination. Symptoms in infants can also include poor weight gain and poor wound healing, in addition to the symptoms listed above.
Essential fatty acids are important in the production of myelin that is being laid down in the brain. Myelin sheaths cover the brain cells which are being laid down in the first couple years of a child’s life. Omega-3 sources should be included in the mother’s diet.
Research is now examining how important supplementation of formulas with different PUFA may be on infant development. Whether these PUFA affect attention control, problem-solving ability, IQ, and visual function is the emphasis of some of these studies. DHA does appear to be important for visual development in premature infants.
A study from Australia showed that supplementation of infant formulas with a dietary omega-3 did improve visual function to the level of those found in breastfed infants. Another study showed that supplementation of formula with PUFA from birth to four months of age resulted in higher problem-solving scores at 10 months of age.
Most children today are not getting enough fiber in their diets. High fiber diets may reduce the risk of certain cancers, diabetes, heart disease and digestive disorders. In addition, fiber helps regulate the bowels and can help lower cholesterol. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains are all good fiber sources. High fiber diets tend to be lower in fat and have also been found to curb overeating.
To calculate your child’s fiber needs:
add your child’s age + 5 = fiber requirement
(e.g. for an 8-year-old, daily fiber intake should be 8 + 5 = 13 grams of fiber a day).
Adults and teens should consume at least 20 to 35 grams of fiber per day.
Here are some tips for finding higher fiber foods:
In breads and cereals, look for whole grain and whole wheat listed as the first ingredient.
Find cereals with whole grains and at least 4-5 grams of fiber per serving. Some brands include: Cheerios, Shredded Wheat, Wheaties, Toasty-O’s, Grape Nuts, Raisin Bran, wheatena, oatmeal and oat bran. Mix healthier cereals with your child’s less healthy cereals to get some benefits of added fiber.
Eat brown rice instead of white.
Find whole wheat pasta, amaranth pasta or quinoa pasta (the last two are available at health food stores).
Add fiber to meals by adding kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, lima beans. Add them to salads; soups; main dishes like burritos or tacos or chili; mash and mix in with meatloaf and burgers.
Add wheat bran or Fiproflax (available at most health food stores) to casseroles, meat loaf, baked goods, pancakes, and cereal.
Add All-Bran cereal to muffin recipes.
Drink plenty of fluids when you are eating fiber. This will help offset the gas, cramping and bloating that may occur.
Raw fruits and vegetables with the peels on have more fiber than cooked or canned.
Dried fruits are good fiber sources, especially figs, apricots and dates.
Discover other whole grains and find ways to cook them. Whole grains are getting easier to find these days. Look for them at your health foods stores. May stores have bins of raw grains where you can buy a small quantity. Some grains to try: amaranth, barley, buckwheat, kamut, millet, oats and quinoa.
The public health alarm has sounded and most people are well aware of the increase in overweight children in the U.S. The questions we are grappling with – why is this trend occurring and what does it mean for the future of our children?
Answering the first part of this question could be stated very simply – too many calories and too little activity, but in reality it is more complex. The media marketing food and sedentary activities to our children, cheap processed food choices, the ease of fast food for stressed out parents, schools offering sodas and candies, communities that make driving necessary and walking almost impossible, and the list could go on and on.
But who is ultimately responsible for the problem?
In many cases, we need to take a good look at the family. It is not the overweight 6-year-old who is doing the grocery shopping or running to the local drive-thru to pick up dinner. Parents need to take the ultimate responsibility and this can be taken in many ways despite the challenges. Parents are still in control and they can set limits. For example, examine what foods are brought into the house (do the parents understand how to read a nutrition label?), set limits on media (does a child need a TV in their own bedroom?), decide what types of restaurants are frequented (there are better choices out there), and get involved with the schools (school boards need to hear from parents voicing concerns about food choices in the schools).
The problems for the future of our children is not about the cosmetics of looking skinny, but more about the health impact and risks for diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. The concern with diabetes is that overweight children are being struck with a disease that was considered to be a grown-up disease for old people.
As waistlines of our children continue to expand, their lifespan will be shortened and dollars spent on healthcare in treating their diseases will skyrocket. Is this the future we wish for our children? We as parents can not only take responsibility for what occurs in our homes, but should be out there advocating with the schools, restaurants, food industry, businesses and our government to ask them to support us to keep our kids healthy. No one wants to be blamed for the childhood obesity epidemic, but if everyone claims they are not to blame and chooses to do nothing, well-needed changes will not happen.
