Selected Podcast
Childhood Obesity
The physician will talk about the effects of childhood obesity and prevention.
Featured Speaker:
Organization: MemorialCare Medical Group
Linh Nguyen, MD
Dr. Linh Nguyen is a pediatrician at MemorialCare Medical Group’s primary care office on Bellflower Boulevard in Long Beach, California. She went to medical school at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and completed an internship and residency at the University of California Irvine Medical Center. Dr. Nguyen believes in the power to change a child’s wellbeing through preventive care and partnering with parents to achieve the best care possible for their child. She has special interests in asthma and childhood obesity. Dr. Nguyen is currently accepting new patients.Organization: MemorialCare Medical Group
Transcription:
Childhood Obesity
Deborah Howell (Host): And welcome to the show. We are so pleased you are with us. I am Deborah Howell and this is your weekly dose of wellness. Today’s guest is Dr. Linh Nguyen, a pediatrician at MemorialCare Medical Group’s Primary Care Office. She went to medical school at the University of California San Diego School Of Medicine and completed an internship and residency at the University of California Irvine Medical Center. Dr. Nguyen believes in the power to change of child’s well-being through preventive care and partnering with parents to achieve the best care possible for their child. Welcome, Dr. Nguyen.
Dr. Linh Nguyen (Guest): Thank you so much for having me Deborah.
Deborah: It’s all our pleasure. Let’s dive right into the topic at hand. What are some of the important statistics on childhood obesity?
Dr. Nguyen: Well, I hope I know we all are aware of how severe of a public crisis obesity is and that major changes needs to be done and they need to be done soon in order to stop the true epidemic and the numbers are absolutely threatening especially in our pediatric population. The data from 2012 shows that one-third of our children and adolescents are currently either obese or overweight and specifically one in eight preschoolers are now obese. This is at least triple the rate of, you know just one generation ago.
Deborah: It’s heartbreaking.
Dr. Nguyen: It’s really is and it’s scary for me to think about where the next generation would be if you continue the trend.
Deborah: That’s right, now what are the immediate health effects of childhood obesity?
Dr. Nguyen: No doubt it has very many harmful effects and the alarming scene is how early those effects take place. For example, as pediatrician we used to very rarely take care of child with hypertension and nowadays, there are keys on high blood pressure measured on the right. We see things like breathing problems, sleep apnea, asthma, joint problems, and fatty liver affecting our children even before become adult.
Deborah: I hate hearing all of this and I am sure you do to, so what are those of the short-term effects and now we have the long-term heath effects on top of the short-term effects, what are some of those?
Dr. Nguyen: Yes absolutely, so one piece of data that is now new and very worrisome is that our children today actually have a shorter life expectancy than their parents and it’s because of things like type 2 diabetes which used to be caused an adult-onset diabetes which is now unfortunately a term that is no longer correct because we have teens with type 2 diabetes. The children are who are overweight and obese are about five times more likely to be overweight or obese as adult and in their cases obesity tends to be more severe and with that will come things like hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, stroke, or even cancer. Endometrial, breast, and colon cancer are just to name a few and let’s not forget there are greater risks of the social and psychological problems such as you know early on being bullied and discriminated as a child developing self-esteem problems and later on developing depression.
Deborah: It sets the tone for your whole life, if that’s how you start life. Okay that’s all the bad stuff doctor. Now, gets into the good stuff. How can parents prevent or reserve obesity in their child?
Dr. Nguyen: Yes. I agree. I love to focus on positive , prevention is definitely the key. In fact in my clinic, I never you know really mentioned word things like fat or sometimes given diet. We just talk about the healthy lifestyle choices and healthy food choices and those things need to be introduced as early as actually the first time we think about introducing solid foods.
Deborah: Right.
Dr. Nguyen: We discussed the healthy and unhealthy choices as early as nine months because we want to get those vegetables onboard first. As a child goes older and becomes more aware, it’s very beneficial for them to see their parents and grandparents and the teachers as role model by eating the healthy meals and snacks preparing good breakfast in the morning.
Deborah: Yes.
Dr. Nguyen: Getting your fruits and vegetables at grocery stores and walking to places that we can walk. There are so many things that we can do very early on and this show the child how things should be and things like a sweet, chips, soda, and seafood which is such a big part of our diet these days and we think of that as the norm, actually should be just only as you know very special treat or at parties.
Deborah: Right, right.
Dr. Nguyen: Actually experienced.
Deborah: I am glad to hear you say that because some parents say never, never, never I mean you know I can imagine going through childhood without having a potato chip or two you know.
Dr. Nguyen: Absolutely, you once enjoyed those sweets and chips, but you know is part of childhood, but as a very special treat.
Deborah: That’s right. On your birthday.
Dr. Nguyen: Yes.
Deborah: How important is physical activity doctor in reducing and preventing childhood obesity?
Dr. Nguyen: Absolutely, that’s the most important priority in preventing obesity so what I tell a lot of my friends is this you child doesn’t need to be worthy team athlete in order to be considered active.
Deborah: Right.
Dr. Nguyen: Every single minute of the day of physical activity is really count and we are all busy these days, but recommended 45 minutes to one hour a day exercise can be broken down to 30 minutes, 15 minutes even a one minute activities here and there and no matter how busy our life are, we can always find 15 minutes in order to get our children moving during the day and even walking, anything you know.
Deborah: Even during the school day, when you are sitting down for much of the day may be our schools can play a better role in helping to curve childhood obesity by offering some form of movement.
Dr. Nguyen: Yes absolutely, so and it starts with preschool. It starts with the first move the child needs before he goes into a school environment. If the good habits are introduced early on and the bad habits are never, they in the first place then things are much easier down the road. So, the teachers can actually need the indoor and outdoor activity, although lunch, choices that’s never be a bad life choice on the menu because then kids will think that that’s okay because it’s at school, because like teachers giving it to me. So remember that is important.
Deborah: I remember you know when recess came, we could not wait. We just run out the door and just go crazy just get out that pent up energy out I mean just that still occur on playgrounds today or it is everybody just go out and play with their electronic device.
Dr. Nguyen: Excuse me, so you are bringing up another big piece that I think will be very worse and down the road is the same time, so in the past, it used to be just TV and computer, but now we have the smartphones and the tablet and that with children pretty much 24 x 7 and it’s now the way that we used to control and discipline our children and the recommended one hour teatime is now increase to probably four to five hours a day that the child is with the device and that time to be spent running around, being active, yes so that’s very important.
Deborah: Real games instead of cyber games.
Dr. Nguyen: Yes absolutely.
Deborah: If our listeners want more information on childhood obesity and how to reverse it or prevent it where can they go?
Dr. Nguyen: The most reliable resource is CDC website because that’s where we get the most updated data, but for a parents as far as kids on day to day basis, the American Academy of Pediatrics developed a wonderful website of healthychildren.org where they can go and find tips on a pretty much all of the very basic health issues including obesity, including packing their lunches and how to get your child losing.
Deborah: Beautiful, so once again that’s healthychildren.org or the center for disease website is cdc.gov. Thank you so much Dr. Nguyen for coming on the show today. I wish we had a lot more time. Childhood obesity is a huge subject and we have really enjoyed talking with you about how we can reverse it.
Dr. Nguyen: Thank you very much and please talk to your doctors about it at every child’s visit regardless of what your child’s BMI is.
Deborah: Great advice. Alright, to learn more or to listen to a podcast of the show, please visit memorialcare.org. I am Deborah Howell. Join us again next time. We will explore another weekly dose of wellness. Have yourself a wonderful day.
Childhood Obesity
Deborah Howell (Host): And welcome to the show. We are so pleased you are with us. I am Deborah Howell and this is your weekly dose of wellness. Today’s guest is Dr. Linh Nguyen, a pediatrician at MemorialCare Medical Group’s Primary Care Office. She went to medical school at the University of California San Diego School Of Medicine and completed an internship and residency at the University of California Irvine Medical Center. Dr. Nguyen believes in the power to change of child’s well-being through preventive care and partnering with parents to achieve the best care possible for their child. Welcome, Dr. Nguyen.
Dr. Linh Nguyen (Guest): Thank you so much for having me Deborah.
Deborah: It’s all our pleasure. Let’s dive right into the topic at hand. What are some of the important statistics on childhood obesity?
Dr. Nguyen: Well, I hope I know we all are aware of how severe of a public crisis obesity is and that major changes needs to be done and they need to be done soon in order to stop the true epidemic and the numbers are absolutely threatening especially in our pediatric population. The data from 2012 shows that one-third of our children and adolescents are currently either obese or overweight and specifically one in eight preschoolers are now obese. This is at least triple the rate of, you know just one generation ago.
Deborah: It’s heartbreaking.
Dr. Nguyen: It’s really is and it’s scary for me to think about where the next generation would be if you continue the trend.
Deborah: That’s right, now what are the immediate health effects of childhood obesity?
Dr. Nguyen: No doubt it has very many harmful effects and the alarming scene is how early those effects take place. For example, as pediatrician we used to very rarely take care of child with hypertension and nowadays, there are keys on high blood pressure measured on the right. We see things like breathing problems, sleep apnea, asthma, joint problems, and fatty liver affecting our children even before become adult.
Deborah: I hate hearing all of this and I am sure you do to, so what are those of the short-term effects and now we have the long-term heath effects on top of the short-term effects, what are some of those?
Dr. Nguyen: Yes absolutely, so one piece of data that is now new and very worrisome is that our children today actually have a shorter life expectancy than their parents and it’s because of things like type 2 diabetes which used to be caused an adult-onset diabetes which is now unfortunately a term that is no longer correct because we have teens with type 2 diabetes. The children are who are overweight and obese are about five times more likely to be overweight or obese as adult and in their cases obesity tends to be more severe and with that will come things like hypertension, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, stroke, or even cancer. Endometrial, breast, and colon cancer are just to name a few and let’s not forget there are greater risks of the social and psychological problems such as you know early on being bullied and discriminated as a child developing self-esteem problems and later on developing depression.
Deborah: It sets the tone for your whole life, if that’s how you start life. Okay that’s all the bad stuff doctor. Now, gets into the good stuff. How can parents prevent or reserve obesity in their child?
Dr. Nguyen: Yes. I agree. I love to focus on positive , prevention is definitely the key. In fact in my clinic, I never you know really mentioned word things like fat or sometimes given diet. We just talk about the healthy lifestyle choices and healthy food choices and those things need to be introduced as early as actually the first time we think about introducing solid foods.
Deborah: Right.
Dr. Nguyen: We discussed the healthy and unhealthy choices as early as nine months because we want to get those vegetables onboard first. As a child goes older and becomes more aware, it’s very beneficial for them to see their parents and grandparents and the teachers as role model by eating the healthy meals and snacks preparing good breakfast in the morning.
Deborah: Yes.
Dr. Nguyen: Getting your fruits and vegetables at grocery stores and walking to places that we can walk. There are so many things that we can do very early on and this show the child how things should be and things like a sweet, chips, soda, and seafood which is such a big part of our diet these days and we think of that as the norm, actually should be just only as you know very special treat or at parties.
Deborah: Right, right.
Dr. Nguyen: Actually experienced.
Deborah: I am glad to hear you say that because some parents say never, never, never I mean you know I can imagine going through childhood without having a potato chip or two you know.
Dr. Nguyen: Absolutely, you once enjoyed those sweets and chips, but you know is part of childhood, but as a very special treat.
Deborah: That’s right. On your birthday.
Dr. Nguyen: Yes.
Deborah: How important is physical activity doctor in reducing and preventing childhood obesity?
Dr. Nguyen: Absolutely, that’s the most important priority in preventing obesity so what I tell a lot of my friends is this you child doesn’t need to be worthy team athlete in order to be considered active.
Deborah: Right.
Dr. Nguyen: Every single minute of the day of physical activity is really count and we are all busy these days, but recommended 45 minutes to one hour a day exercise can be broken down to 30 minutes, 15 minutes even a one minute activities here and there and no matter how busy our life are, we can always find 15 minutes in order to get our children moving during the day and even walking, anything you know.
Deborah: Even during the school day, when you are sitting down for much of the day may be our schools can play a better role in helping to curve childhood obesity by offering some form of movement.
Dr. Nguyen: Yes absolutely, so and it starts with preschool. It starts with the first move the child needs before he goes into a school environment. If the good habits are introduced early on and the bad habits are never, they in the first place then things are much easier down the road. So, the teachers can actually need the indoor and outdoor activity, although lunch, choices that’s never be a bad life choice on the menu because then kids will think that that’s okay because it’s at school, because like teachers giving it to me. So remember that is important.
Deborah: I remember you know when recess came, we could not wait. We just run out the door and just go crazy just get out that pent up energy out I mean just that still occur on playgrounds today or it is everybody just go out and play with their electronic device.
Dr. Nguyen: Excuse me, so you are bringing up another big piece that I think will be very worse and down the road is the same time, so in the past, it used to be just TV and computer, but now we have the smartphones and the tablet and that with children pretty much 24 x 7 and it’s now the way that we used to control and discipline our children and the recommended one hour teatime is now increase to probably four to five hours a day that the child is with the device and that time to be spent running around, being active, yes so that’s very important.
Deborah: Real games instead of cyber games.
Dr. Nguyen: Yes absolutely.
Deborah: If our listeners want more information on childhood obesity and how to reverse it or prevent it where can they go?
Dr. Nguyen: The most reliable resource is CDC website because that’s where we get the most updated data, but for a parents as far as kids on day to day basis, the American Academy of Pediatrics developed a wonderful website of healthychildren.org where they can go and find tips on a pretty much all of the very basic health issues including obesity, including packing their lunches and how to get your child losing.
Deborah: Beautiful, so once again that’s healthychildren.org or the center for disease website is cdc.gov. Thank you so much Dr. Nguyen for coming on the show today. I wish we had a lot more time. Childhood obesity is a huge subject and we have really enjoyed talking with you about how we can reverse it.
Dr. Nguyen: Thank you very much and please talk to your doctors about it at every child’s visit regardless of what your child’s BMI is.
Deborah: Great advice. Alright, to learn more or to listen to a podcast of the show, please visit memorialcare.org. I am Deborah Howell. Join us again next time. We will explore another weekly dose of wellness. Have yourself a wonderful day.