Some day, I hope we'll be able to look back at the sorry state of our nation's collective health and wonder how we ever allowed preventable and costly diseases like diabetes and obesity to get so out of hand. That's an observation coming from the "rose-colored glasses" side of my brain, unfortunately, and a recent report in the journal Population Health Metrics (read the full study at the link below) bears this out.

The future of American health, according to many experts, is dire, and these latest results are no exception. Ten percent of Americans currently struggle with diabetes, a number that may triple by 2050. No doubt, much of that explosive growth is tied to kids you know growing up with and around childhood obesity.

Arguably, changing the downward trajectory of poor health, starting with childhood obesity, is easier to achieve earlier, than later, in life. For that to happen, parents must do their part as role models to help their children overcome obesity and the rising tide of disease that accompanies it. They're certainly capable of doing it on their own with the proper training, according to a University of California-San Diego study of parents with an overweight or obese child.

Researchers randomly assigned 80 families to a parent-only child treatment program or parent-plus-child treatment program for five months, then followed up with them six months later to check on their progress. The good news: Parents working on their own with their kids were just as successful in three important markers -- child weight loss, child physical activity and parent weight loss -- as those participating in joint treatment plans.

When it comes to raising emotionally and physically healthy kids from wee ones to adulthood, there's no pulling the gene card. No more excuses…

Obesity October 21, 2010

ScienceDaily October 25, 2010

Population Health Metrics October 22, 2010 Free Full Text PDF

USA Today October 22, 2010