Show smeaw 'mfofflmm HEALTH & SCIENCE Thursday January The Salt Lake Tribune Obese Kids: Problem Is Increasing Continued from C-- l TV the glorification and overconhealth sumption of fast-foo- d menaces to everyone fat and thin young and old In addition they cite psychological and cultural v fadors the concept of food as love for example and the eoua--' tion particularly among disadvantaged groups of fat with healthfulness Perhaps more than anything these problems are rooted in the family in entrenched food purchasing eating and activity patterns Many experts believe that they call for family solutions Yet parents may be poor role d models More than of adult Americans are overweight and their children tend to take after them Some parents are afraid even to broach the subject for fear of precipitating a lifelong eating disorder Others mercilessly blame themselves or at the opposite extreme deny that it is a problem until a childs health suffers Many doctors not on child obesity offer bland out-t- h advice like Dont feed them so much And while physical education has been dramatically curtailed in public schools there are few outside programs geared to youngsters whose weight is soaring Still some clinicians and researchers see attacking the complex problem of childhood obesity as an opportunity In young people they argue there is still so much potential for change I think there are things we can do said Steven Gortmaker coauthor of a famous study linking obesity to television viewing The fact is we havent done them Why does fat run in families? And why in particular does it run in American families? The deceptively simple answer is that children and their elders take in more calories often fatty sweet or nutritionally empty calories than they burn off Most experts agree that weight gain is the product of some combination of genetic and environmental factors with genes accounting for about 25 percent of the variation among individuals according to one widely cited estimate But environment gets most of our attention because it counts more and it is at least theoretically under our control Given the dramatic rise in childhood obesity in less than a generation the American environment dearly is becoming more fattening The very act of living in the United States puts you at great risk for obesity writes Michael Fumento author of a book that rails against the sedentary American lifestyle In fact becoming acculturat-e- d in the United States is considered a risk factor for immigrant families says Uiirersity of California Davis nutrition educator Marilyn Townsend The environmental reasons vary by family location ethnic group and economic status One large-scal- e study of 9- - and girls ia Oakland Calif showed that white girls from unemployed and less families were more prone to be overweight than other whites For black girls socioeconomic status was not an issue but obesiwas as with white girls ty associated with having an older mother being physically more mature and living in a smaller family Researchers speculated one-thir- well-inform- or well-educat- that parental overindulgence might be a factor The mechanisms I think are still unclear said Pat Crawford a University of California Berkeley researcher who is working on the ongoing study If we had the answer we would be quite famous It is a paradox that in a country obsessed with slimness an obesity epidemic is raging But Kate Moss is not for everyone Different ideals of body size grow out of culture and experience In Mexico where food can be scarce and in some black households where low birth weight historically has been a problem a fat child is often seen as a healthy child Even as the child matures and enters adulthood excess padding tends to be more tolerated For families living in poverty in another piling on pounds may be a function of a paradox deprived environment Poor children have fewer safe places to burn off energy and their parents have more limited shopping options Despite the differences within the American environment the escalation of childhood obesity has some common culprits that keep children on the couch and off the blacktop The greatest of these may be TV Not far behind experts say They are at risk of seeking an external solution It seems to some overweight kids that the world is against them Have you seen that movie Omega Man? asks Eric Radu-lovi- c 12 who at 5 foot 6 weighs A neutron bomb 186 pounds some people die and a lot hits turn into mutants (The hero) has to destroy them Thats the way I feel Its one guy against the army The army is food and the (other) kids Last year Eric was in so many fights at school he had to transfer to another campus He said groups of bullies three or more at boys all smaller than he 12 $3 SO BARGAIN MAJlNtB All SHOWS THE POSTMANR) (DTS 100430)800 TOMORROW NEVER exes (PG-i- 3 DTSDOTAL) 0TS STEREO m I a O&iTAL) screens 410)7X940 ? 00 4 401 30 10 10 3 HRS OF $ PARKING i9 WITH VALIDATION AS GOOO AS fT GETSDG-13- ) (DOLBY)ttX4 15)700946 TITANIC (PG-1(ON 2 SCREENS) DTS DIGIT AL) 1200 4 00)8 OO (DOLBY) 11 30 3 307 X) BS GOOO WlU (ON 2 SCREENS) HUNTING (R) (DOLBY) 1Q7 10 7 30 9 40 9 55 1235 1 103 154 JACKIE BROWN (R) (DOLBY) 100 AMtSTAO(R) (DOLBY) 12 30 3 306 30 9 40 ANASTASIA (G) DTS DOTAL) FOR RICHER OR POORER ) (500)7 30 HOME ALONE 3 (PG) (DOLBY) (1245310600) WINGS Of THE DOVE (R) (DOLBY) 815 (DTS STEREO) m City l 5 (307 S tadm West 51 Solution (NDttATfcS NO PASicS OOTAL) AS GOOO AS IT GETS (PG-1(DOLBY) il 10 4 I0i7 10 JACKIE BROWN (R) (DOLBY) (1U04XPX1010 FOR RICHER OR POORER(PG-1310)7 40 1015 (DTSSTEREOH5 3 (PG) HOME ALONE (120 3 40 6X1 SCREAM 2 (R) (1 404X17X9 ANASTASIA ) (DOLBY) (DOLBY) 50 G) 3 10) DOLBY) 101X31051S X 9 45 AS GOOO AS IT GETS (ON 2 SCREENS) (DOLBY) 12 50 20 3 50 4 05 7 X7 45)7 25 ALIEN RESURRECTION THE POSTMAN (R) (R) (DOLBY) 9 45 ANASTASIA (G) (DOLBY) THE RAINMAKER (PG-1600 9 00 (1 15 3 45) (DOLBY) Hmoa THE POSTMAN (R) (ON 2 SCREENS) (12 30 4 308 30 (DTS OOTAL) (1200 4008 X AS GOOO AS IT GETS ) (ON 2 SCREENS) DOLBY) 55 4 10 4 40)7 00 7 30 9 55 1020 (1 25 (DOLBY) 4X7 HOUSEHUNT (PG) (DTS DOTAL) (11 (DOLBY DIGITAL) AN AMERICAN X (PG-1- X 9 50 10 15 (ON 2 SCREENS) 15 (1200 4X1800 WEREWOLF IN PARIS (R) (DOLBY) (12 15 2X5X17 40 10X TOMORROW NEVER DIES (PG-1(ON 2 SCREENS) (DTS DOTAL)(1204 15)7X955 (DTS STEREO) (12 40 3 407X 9 35 SCREAM 2 (R) (DOLBY) (1 10 410)7 10 9 45 FOR RICHER OR POORER(PG-IS- ) 15P451010 ANASTASIA (G) (SR DOLBY) (DOLBY)(1 (11 15 3 45 5 45) 5)8 15 AMISTAO (R) (DTS DOTAL) 11X415)745 MR MAGOO(PG) (1 103X5X17 45945 GOOO WILL HUNTING (R) iDOLBY) (12 50 1003) and (1 SCREAM 2 (R) (DOLBY) i2 15 4 55)7 35 10X FOR RICHER OR POORER (PG-1(DOLBY) X4 200 A MIST AD (R) (DTS X 4 458 00 (PG-1- 2 (1 W 1ock JACKIE BROWN (R) (DOLBY) 02 45 3 50)7 10 10 10 THE POSTMAN (R) (ON 2 SCREENS) 0TS DOTAL) (1 00 4 408 20 (DOLBY OOTAL) (1240 20)8 00 TOMORROW NEVER DIES (ON 2 SCREENS) ) (DTS DIGITAL) 46 220 4 40 5 10) 720 7501000 1020 HOUSEHUNT (PG) (1X4 families are making better choices 566-86- 84 Lake AS GOOO AS IT GETS (ON 2 SCREENS 'DOLBY) (100 4 00)7 00 9 30 SODS 0045017 40 1015 JACKIE BROWN (R) MR MAGOO(PG) (DOLBY) 10310510)7 10920 HOUSEHUNT (PG) (DOLBY) 100 305 5 20)"' 20 9 30 FLUBBER (PG) (DOLBY) n 20 320 5 307 4Q 3 40 SCREAM 2 (R) (COLBY) (130430)7X1000 Saft m !NANTH& (ON 2 SCREENS) 5X17 X 7 45 9 Kidshape founder Neufeld knows her program is just a start serving maybe two dozen families a session But she sees promise in starting here in a UCLA basement on Saturday mornings bringing parents and children together to hear messages about healthy living We are a tenth of a drop in a huge ocean she said But our 500 mg of pure calcium pyruvate per capsule Limit of 2 bottles per household n 1 BfcfQflfc grams in the Los Angeles area called Kidshape designed especially for children who are overweight So far he says hes dropped 38 pounds Kidshape represents one doctors hope for a solution Like several other programs for children in California and the country it is founded on the notion that change comes in tiny increments that family involvement is key and that children respond best to positive incentives $1595 far 90 capsules Olympian Labs brand : OFF SALE C3 1998 family-oriente- mam i are televisions technological cousins computers and video games In a 1996 study Harvards Gortmaker and his colleagues found that youths who watched more than five hours of television per day were nearly five times as likely to be overweight as those watching less than two hours The relationship held true despite adjustments for ethnicity economic status and other factors To Gortmaker the world of cheap vicarious thrills the video life perpetuated by the inactivity industry" is the fat childs nemesis The consequences worsen as the channels expand and more adults rely on television as a bargain baby sitter Compounding the effects of numbing passivity researchers say are the snacks children tend to eat while watching and the alluring TV advertisements for additional treats The hours of television are most harmful for what they replace: Tag jump rope neighborhood hall games the general physical activities of youth Dwindling physical outlets are most distressing say some experts because exercise is a far more desirable means of weight control than calorie cutting Some argue that systematic dieting is dangerous for growing youngsters I think youre on a slippery slope taking a 10- - or and telling them to restrict calories If you can get them physically active you can put it in a positive vein and you avoid getting them into bulimia and other nutrition problems said Charles Kuntzleman a professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan Others say the real problem is not food intake or inactivity per se but the psychological troubles they represent Laurel Mellin an associate professor at the University of California San Francisco argues that obesity is rooted in weak g nurturing and ineffective within the family Instead of thinking about it as how much fat is on the body think about it as an indicator of distress in our children said Mellm who has developed a treatment program called Shapedown based on these ideas The underpinnings are permissiveness and deprivation in the family environment They cause the same effect The child does not develop the skills to be responsible for themselves tacked him because he was fat I had to defend myself he said At home in his Hollywood apartment he fights his other enemy: food His mother an Egyptian immigrant who dotes on the boy she is raising by herself shows her love by cooking feeding and offering more In the same way she shows hospitality to a dinner guest pushing seconds and thirds and complaining You dont like! when rebuffed Whatever the reasons Eric eats and they are probably complex he is slowly taking the pounds off A doctor referred him to one of the few d pro 1 m JACKIE BROWN (ft) (DOLBY) 11X415)7X1010 FOR RICHER OR POORER(PG-13- ) (1X415)7 159X HOME ALONE 3 (PG) (1 5 3X 6 X) SCREAM 2 (R) 8 00 10 IS HnrrBMrrn RffmiiimwiWuiMMM 15 10 X (12 45 15 3X5X540710740945 LA CONFIDENTIAL (R) 920 SPECIAL 1C JR-M- OV 1 ENGAGEMENT NO PASSES OR DISCOUNT COUPONS ACCEPTEDI LS&lSlKJWTlM ESI CALL 36-FIL- Rj Starting Tomorrow at 10:C)ilaiiSp! We Begin our Annual Winter Clearance Sale limit-settin- We invite you to come visit our new Forsey's "Pacesetter" Contemporary store and see firsthand how Forsey's is "setting the pace" when it comes to extraordinary contemporary furnishings for your home or office FORSEYS SPECIAL WINTER CLEARANCE SALE BONUS PACE Choose from one of the following: NO paymentNO interest for six months WE pay your sales tax On qualified credit j SETTER Not subject to prior sale Forsey's Pacesetter Contemporary Furnishings 7 2955 Highland Drive (801) 463-077- Monday - Friday Saturday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm 10:00am - 6:30pm Sunday 12:00 noon - 4:00 pm SPECIAL PREVIEW NEW YEAR'S DAY NOON - 4:00PM m (sseWFfpm V I BSgSWM O! fc spsgsi a rT |