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The Fight against Childhood Obesity: Two Kids' Stories
Nicholas, 8, and Samantha, 4, enter separate programmes to help keep weight off.
By JOHN DONVAN and MELIA PATRIA (abridged)
May 17, 2010 — -- Samantha Stevens is one 4-year-old who knows what she likes. The list includes Miley Cyrus, puzzles and face time with her little sister, Alana.The list also includes food: eating, snacking and nibbling.
"I want a cheese ham sandwich," Samantha told her mom. "I want cookie ... I want cookie."
"Eventually, I cave in," mom Lori Cohen said.
But it's not just a cookie Samantha wants. She also wants French toast ... noodle soup ...
"She's a carbohydrate addict," Cohen said. "Just anything bread, anything pasta, anything sweet. ... Chocolate, any kind of cake, ice cream, bread and then meats and cheeses. She does love pasta."
At 54 pounds, Samantha is the biggest girl in her pre-kindergarten class, Cohen said.
But does Samantha really have a weight problem? Or does she just have some extra baby fat?
By the standard medical definition, Samantha is actually counted as obese.
"We don't understand what a normal child looks like anymore," said Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, a Long Island, N.Y., pediatrician who specializes in weight management for kids. "Overweight has become the norm."
A parent might not recognize that a child is obese, Dolgoff said, because the child may look like all of the other kids in the neighbourhood, or even slightly thinner.
The not-so-secret recipe for childhood obesity is by now familiar: fast-food plus processed food, add in some preservatives, some sugar; and mix with video games, television, computers and our dependency on cars. All that cooks up to an epidemic, with one in three kids across the country now overweight or obese.

Battling the Bulge in Nashville
Just outside Nashville, Tenn., second-grader Nicholas Reeves is also battling the bulge. At 8 years old, he already weighs 117 pounds.
"He's just hungry all the time," mom,Angel Reeves said. "He can finish eating a meal and then five minutes later he's coming in the kitchen saying, 'I'm hungry again, I'm hungry again.'"
Reeves said Nick is a very active child who loves to play basketball. But his weight has already impaired his health.
"He actually weighs more than his 13-year-old brother, so he is teased by him," Reeves said.
Beyond the emotional toll of taunting and teasing, the stakes for obese children can be as high as for obese grownups. Dolgoff ticked off some of the more serious health risks.
"High blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke," she said. "Being overweight during childhood decreases life span. You just want to get your overweight child healthy as soon as possible so you can maximize their life span."
Childhood Obesity: Can Programs Help?
Both Nicholas Reeves and Samantha Stevens embarked on an effort that their families and doctors hoped would change their habits, and therefore their lives. The children enlisted in two different programmes designed for obese kids.
Samantha entered a programme on Long Island run by Dolgoff, who set out to help her get healthier in a six-month period.
"My job is to teach you to eat as healthy as possible, so you have the healthiest heart and the healthiest body," Dolgoff told Samantha.
Nicholas entered a programme led by a team of experts at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Dr. Greg Plemmons monitored his progress.
At the start of their programs, both Samantha and Nick were weighed and their heights were measured. The figures were used to calculate Body Mass Index, or BMI, the common measure doctors use to track obesity.
Samantha's BMI percentile was dangerously high.
Nick's BMI percentile was up there as well.
The doctors explained an important distinction between treating childhood and adult obesity. Overweight adults need to lose weight. For overweight kids, however, gaining weight is normal because they're still growing.
The goal for overweight kids is to get them just to stay at one weight for a while, a weight their bodies can grow into until it becomes more normal for their height and age.

QUESTION:-
Q1 According to Dr. Dolgoff, why doesn’t a parent recognize that a child is obese?

Answer 1

Explanation:

The parent might not recognize that a child is obese ,Dr.dolgoff said, because the child may look like all other kids in the neighborhood ,or even slightly thinner