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| Can you believe sugar-free cookies are often loaded with hydrogenated oils (trans fats that are really unhealthy)? The first ingredient listed on many sugar free cookies is vegetable shortening, which is a trans fat. |
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Obesity in children has become a serious problem in the United States as well as in other developed and developing countries. Indications are that more than 15 percent of children, ages six through 19, are at or above the 95th percentile for body-mass index (BMI) on standard growth charts—that’s double the rate over the past two decades. (Minority and economically disadvantaged children have even higher rates.) The number of overweight children younger than five years has significantly increased.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued its first-ever policy dealing solely with identifying and preventing this problem. The new policy, published in the August 2003 issue of Pediatrics, the Academy’s monthly medical journal, asks pediatricians to measure body-mass index, a height-to-weight ratio, among other things, as a way of helping them spot a risk of obesity.
Using a child’s BMI measured regularly over time, doctors will finally have a real tool to determine if a child’s weight relative to height puts him or her at risk of becoming overweight or obese.
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