Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Now, one of the things we're hearing a lot about is childhood obesity. One early observation with exitotoxicity is it makes animals grossly obese.
Mike: If they banned MSG, the drug companies would lose billions. Think about how much money they make treating all of these symptoms.
Dr. Blaylock: Here the government has all these big plans for controlling carbohydrate intake and controlling cereals and sugar and all that. Those things add to the problem, because what we find in MSG-exposed animals is that they prefer carbohydrates and sugars over protein-rich foods. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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 Dietary changes that may be helpful
Unhealthful eating patterns resulting in overconsump-tion of foods high in fat, calories, or added sugars are considered a major contributor to childhood obesity.16 Since these patterns often include habits learned from the family, attention should be paid to providing healthful food to the entire family and encouraging good role modeling by other family members.17
Guiding healthful food choices when eating outside of the home is also a priority. |
Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen
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 The epidemic of childhood obesity we see now will have major consequences for years to come.86
Childhood obesity also has immediate health effects, some devastating. Excess weight gam in children can cause lipid problems, high blood pressure, blood clotting abnormalities, asthma, and other serious disturbances. One of the most serious is the clustering of risk factors for heart disease known as insulin resistance syndrome, now identified in children as young as five years old. |
Eric R. Braverman
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 Previously, type 2 diabetes was classified as an adult disease, but with the surge in childhood obesity, doctors are diagnosing patients at every age group with this condition.
Through its effect on your blood sugar levels, diabetes has the potential to trigger other seemingly unrelated yet significant medical conditions, including foot ulcers, kidney failure, depressed immune function, eye diseases, permanent nerve damage, circulatory problems, hypertension, and heart disease.
Glucose tolerance factor (GTF) has been reported to help regulate blood sugar. |
Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D.
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 With the increase in childhood obesity, more and more children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes all the time. Type 2 diabetes is the most common kind, and it is increasing at an alarming rate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that one in three children under the age of 5 will develop this kind of diabetes during their lifetime. If they are Latino, the odds are that one in two will become diabetic.202
Everyone agrees that diabetes has reached epidemic levels. What is unclear is why. Most experts blame the problem on obesity and inactivity. |
Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
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 Because the FDA has refused to address this issue, we are more likely to see an unchecked increase in childhood obesity and type II diabetes.
Also characteristic of MSG exposure is an increase in insulin release from the pancreas. As we have seen, the pancreas contains numerous glutamate type receptors, and glutamate in the diet can induce as much as a threefold increase in insulin release from the pancreas. In addition, experiments in animals have demonstrated that MSG can induce insulin resistance, exactly as we see in type II diabetes in humans. |
Sue Palmer
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 There was, for instance, an extreme reaction in Germany in 2004 when a government minister, reporting that childhood obesity had reached near epidemic propordons, called for an initiative to change children's eating and exercise habits. Critics condemned her suggestion as 'reminiscent of regimented youth programmes under the Nazis and Communists' and a political opponent reflected that 'the whole thing raises an eery spectre, especially talk about mandatory PE and intimidating manufacturers into "doing the right thing'". |
Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
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| On closer inspection, there are actually several clues as to the cause for this alarming increase in childhood obesity.
Let us travel back to 1968 when Dr. Olney was conducting his experiments on mice fed MSG. (Mice are frequently used as test animals because they react most like humans to MSG.) Obsessed with the microscopic changes in the brains of the mice he overlooked something quite dramatic first noticed by his assistant. She pointed out to him that all of the mice were grossly obese. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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| Glucomannan
(page 526)
What are the symptoms of childhood obesity?
The proper weight for a growing child or adolescent should be determined with the help of a doctor or other qualified health professional, who can also determine whether any unusual medical problems might be contributing to weight gain, whether any current health problems exist that are related to overweight, and appropriate weight control methods. Treating obesity should not include overly restrictive or fad diets that are missing essential nutrients. In fact, weight loss is not necessarily appropriate for a growing child. |
| Major contributors to childhood obesity include genetics, unhealthy diets, and sedentary lifestyles.4' 5 Overweight children often become adults with weight problems that contribute to a wide variety of health problems,6' 7 but even during childhood and adolescence, overweight can contribute to such disorders as type 2 diabetes (page 152), high cholesterol (page 223), high blood pressure (page 246), insulin resistance (page 273), and liver disease (page 290). |
| More research is needed to evaluate low-carbohydrate diets for treating childhood obesity.
Glycemic index and glycemic load describe the tendency of foods to raise blood sugar. Eating meals containing foods that are low in glycemic index or glycemic load may influence appetite and other body mechanisms that affect excessive weight gain in children.27'28 A preliminary study reported that obese children using a low-glycemic-index diet lost more weight compared with a similar group using a low-fat diet. |
| However, while the results of treatment of overweight children are usually enhanced by strategies to increase physical activity or decrease inactivity, attempts to improve physical activity levels have not been very successful in preventing childhood obesity according to most controlled research.35 Nonetheless, watching television and playing computer or video games contributes to the sedentary lifestyle of many children, and controlled research has shown that weight control is more successful when these activities are controlled and healthier alternatives provided. |
Sheldon Saul Hendler and David Rorvik
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 In a double-blind trial, this one involving 60 children under age 15 with childhood obesity, there was a significant reduction in weight in both treated and placebo groups. Further, there was a concommitant significant reduction in alpha-lipoprotein and an increase in triglycerides in the treated group but not in the placebo group. However, in another controlled study of childhood obesity, excess weight and triglycerides were significantly decreased in treated subjects but not in controls. |
Jeremy P. Tarcher
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 Now, though, many Americans don't blink while companies, such as Coca-Cola, pay big bucks to schools for the right to exclude the sale of other beverage companies' products and gain access to our children, this despite the dramatic rise in childhood obesity and diabetes.
Previously, bushels and even shiploads of food could be owned, bought, and sold. Now, however, plant varieties and other forms of life are privately owned and turned into commodities on the market, a development the consequences of which we're only beginning to grasp. |
Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen
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| If more such people take on healthy eating (or childhood obesity prevention) as their favored cause and then entice their celebrity peers to join in, tremendous change might be possible. These efforts would probably be seen quite favorably by the public, making such celebrities even more valuable in the endorsement marketplace.
Help Parents Help Their Children
The food industry claims that parents must take more responsibility if children are to develop healthier eating patterns. So fine, what would they suggest be done? Create massive education programs for parents? |
| We share your goals of providing important nutrition information to the public and to address the problems of chronic disease and childhood obesity through awareness of good nutrition, exercise and a healthy lifestyle. However, such goals should not be achieved through disinformation, or at the expense of an important natural, simple and low caloric source of carbohydrate. We ask that you be guided by the most current scientific evidence and government statements and that your writings and comments be reflective of them. |
| As Chapter 7 explains, there is scientific evidence linking soft drink consumption to childhood obesity. So, did Gov. King dismiss the self-serving lobbyists and use his influence for the state's children? Not exactly. The Governor's spokesperson announced that the "governor listens and understands" the soft drink lobbyists. The Bureau of Health reworked the campaign, with components scheduled to be used later (on increasing physical activity) being moved up.
Does the Government Offer Any Protection? |
| The American Pimas have extremely high rates of childhood obesity and have the highest rate of diabetes in the world.6
A fascinating discovery was made by German researchers who found that lifespan is affected by the month in which a person is born.7 People in Austria and Denmark born in October-December live longer than those born in the spring, presumably because such babies undergo key in utero development in months when their mothers had access to a healthier diet, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables, and may also have been more active.
These scientists then did two clever things. |
Jeremy P. Tarcher
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| To illustrate, Zenobia ticks off a list of seemingly disjointed problems: "Take the loss of urban-fringe family farms, like those in Sebastopol; take urban sprawl; take the epidemic of diabetes and childhood obesity; take the loss of our open space and our kids losing reverence for nature. Solve for pattern.
Link those problems together and they become a solution. By buying food locally, at a lower price, and by using the institutional buying power of the schools, we help solve all those problems at once. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 2Michael T. Murray, ND
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| In addition to leading to childhood obesity,5 television viewing also contributes to being overweight in adults. In one study of 4,771 adult women, the relationship between time spent watching television per week and obesity demonstrated that twice as many women who reported 3 or more hours of television viewing per day were obese compared with the reference group of women who watched less than 1 hour of television per day. |
Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D.
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 This is especially true of children, as studies have demonstrated that childhood obesity is associated more with inactivity than overeating.4 Since strong evidence suggests that eighty to eighty-six percent of adult obesity begins in childhood, it could be concluded that lack of physical activity is the major cause of obesity. If you have kids, get them active. If you are not active yourself, make a change; get active, especially if you have weight to lose. Adults who are physically active tend to have less of a problem losing weight. |
| In addition to leading to childhood obesity,4 television viewing contributes to excess weight in adults. One study of 4,771 adult women examined the relationship between time spent watching television per week and obesity. The researchers found that twice as many women who reported watching three or more hours of TV per day were obese, compared to the reference group of women who watched less than one hour of television per day. |
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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 There is also an escalating problem with childhood obesity. I am certain the problem is not from genetics.
Although the exact connection between all addictions and physical and mental degeneration secondary to poor nutrition is not fully understood, to me there seems to be an obvious relation. In this chapter we explore this connection and potential ways to heal our culture's downward health spiral.
In order to more fully understand the issues of addiction we must go beyond traditional moral and psychological approaches. |
Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.
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 The strongest predictor of childhood obesity is hours spent in front of a television or computer screen," warns Dr. Foreyt. The problem mounts with age as children become less active as they grow up.
Working Against Your Fat Genes
We tackle the weight issue with fad diets and diet pills, but these are as effective for managing weight as a mythical drug to repair the damage caused by smoking. Granted, weight is temporarily lost on fad diets, but 95 percent of it is gained back, and more. That's because you're not playing on an even field. |
| Our land of plenty also explains why childhood obesity is on the rise. Gone are the days when kids walked to school, played hide and seek for hours, and rode their bikes until sundown. Like adults, our children sit. They watch three or more hours of television a day, which equates to a minimum of 16,425 hours (almost two years) of TV viewing between the ages of two and seventeen years. That's not counting the time spent sitting in front of a computer, Nintendo, or video game, all of which rev metabolism no more than a nap. |
Sheldon Saul Hendler and David Rorvik
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| Vido L, Facchin P, Antonello I, et al. childhood obesity treatment: double blinded trial on dietary fibres (glucomannan) versus placebo. Padiatr Padol. 1993; 28:133-136.
Vita PM, Restelli A, Caspani P, Klinger R. [Chronic use of glucomannan in the dietary treatment of severe obesity]. [Article in Italian]. Minerva Med. 1992; 83:135-139.
Vorster HH, De Jager J. The effect of the long-term ingestion of konjac-glucomannan on glucose tolerance and immunoreactive insulin values of baboons. S Afr Med J. 1984; 65:805-808.
Vuksan V, Jenkins DJ, Spadofora P, et al. |
| However, in another controlled study of childhood obesity, excess weight and triglycerides were significantly decreased in treated subjects but not in controls.
In a 3-month study of severely obese patients, a hypocaloric diet therapy by itself was tested against the same hypocaloric diet in combination with 4 grams of glucomannan (in three doses) daily. The combination therapy resulted in more significant weight loss in relation to fatty mass alone, in an overall improvement in lipid status and carbohydrate tolerance and a greater adherence to the diet. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 1Michael T. Murray, ND
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| As mentioned earlier in the section on obesity, studies suggest that childhood obesity is associated more with inactivity than with overeating.
Encouraging exercise habits at an early age is especially important in light of research indicating that advancing age and elapsed time after initial adaptation of an activity routine are among the most consistent predictors of inactivity.91 The ACSM currently recommends 20-30 minutes of vigorous exercise every day (see Appendix l).92
As can be seen in Table 38. |
Earl Mindell and Hester Mundis
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 Recent research has linked soft drinks with childhood obesity?and an estimated two hundred school districts nationwide have contracts with soft-drink companies that give them exclusive rights to sell their products in schools.
Chapter Seven
Scary Snacks
77. The Unsweet Side of Sugar
We are eating 11 more pounds of sugar, or its equivalent, than we did ten years ago, when we were eating 118.1 pounds of it annually! What's worse is that most of us don't even know it.
All carbohydrate sweeteners qualify as sugar, even though they may be called by other names (see section 13). |
Marion Nestle
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 Although many factors influence childhood obesity, the quality and quantity of the foods consumed are major contributors. Thus efforts to market food products directly to children deserve close scrutiny. As I explain in Chapter 8, food companies spend enormous creative energy and huge sums of money to entice children to buy their products or demand that their parents do so. Despite claims to the contrary, such efforts have little to do with good nutrition and everything to do with promoting food sales. |
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