Dr. Antonio Convit awoke suddenly one night, unable to sleep. His research findings were running through his mind. He had been studying overweight and obese children who were developing pre-diabetes (called insulin resistance) and type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes. It is well known that obesity greatly increases the risk of diabetes in children (and adults). But what relation obesity and diabetes have to the mental functioning of the developing brains of children and adolescents has been uncharted territory -- exactly where a scientist like Dr. Convit and his research team would want to go.
They began their work studying obese adolescents with type 2 diabetes. They wondered if serious weight gain and diabetes reduced intellectual performance in youth. To answer this critical question, they would test the brain's functioning by measuring intelligence, reading, spelling, vocabulary, reasoning, memory, attention, concentration and mental efficiency. They would also do imaging of the brain by MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a scanning technique where the brain can be safely studied) to see if there were reductions in its size or capacity to function, of course factoring in age, that might be related to lower levels of mental performance.
Their results show that the adolescents with type 2 diabetes did more poorly across the board on mental performance tests. In addition, these same youth showed smaller brain volume for the entire brain and the frontal lobes, where much of our reasoning occurs. The frontal lobes are the last part of the brain to mature, making it is highly sensitive to change during adolescence. The abnormal findings Dr. Convit found occur more in obese diabetic youth than in (matched) youth who also were obese but did not have diabetes (or pre-diabetes -- in which the body has developed insulin resistance).
Obesity in youth has tripled in the past 30 years, with one in three three high school students now overweight or obese in the United States. Minority groups show even more disturbing trends with one in two Hispanic and four in 10 black youths affected. Obesity is the road to insulin resistance and diabetes, with their well known adverse effects on blood vessels and the heart -- which shorten life and erode its quality along the way. What is new, however, is that obese, diabetic youth also have their brains impacted and appear to have difficulty learning and succeeding in school.
A survey by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Vital Signs, June 2009, Volume 8, No.1) examined public school children from kindergarten through 8th grade and found nearly 40 percent overweight or obese. The epidemic of obesity is greater in NYC than it is nationwide, but not by much. The epidemic has spared no one: Boys and girls of various ethnicities.
The NYC survey focused on Body-Mass-Index (BMI, which is a measure that takes weight and height into account) and physical fitness in this age group; it showed that overweight and obese youth (BMI equal or greater than 30) had lower levels of fitness, and that physically fit children did better on tests of English Language Arts (ELA) and Standardized Math tests -- both established measures of school performance. The City Health and Mental Hygiene Department recommended, as a result, that parents, schools and health care providers need to help children be fit by engaging in daily physical activity. In addition, the report stressed healthy eating habits, including healthy meals at home, and "...don't let your children drink their calories" referring to the way that high calorie, sugary beverages cause weight gain in youth.
Dr. Convit has taken his research findings beyond his laboratory and academic work at the Nathan Kline Institute -- a research institute of the NYS Office of Mental Health (DISCLOSURE: The Table of Organization of OMH will show this Institute reporting to me) and the New York University Langone Medical Center. He began The BODY Project: Banishing Obesity and Diabetes in Youth. This program is working with adolescent students at two NYC schools, in Manhattan and Brooklyn, to medically screen, engage and help minority youth with excess weight and their families change how they eat, become more physically active, and take care of their health and wellbeing - today and for the future. The BODY Project aims to improve health and brain functioning (and thus school performance) in these youth.
Dr. Convit's work is revealing a gradient where learning difficulties increase as youth go from lean, to obese without insulin resistance, to obese with insulin resistance but not yet diabetic, to those who are obese and have diabetes. It appears that every step beyond being lean means the brain works less well and performance at school can suffer.
This is what I think is waking Dr. Convit up at night. Imagine if there was a way to improve school performance now, not just prevent heart disease years from now? Imagine if success in school, not just a smaller clothing size, awaited adolescents who with direction and support became fitter and shed pounds. Imagine if school test scores increased as BMI scores decreased. I would be restless too if I saw a way by which one third of American high school students, and others even younger, could become more mentally capable, more competitive and more successful. That would be a real wake up call.
The opinions expressed herein are solely my own as a psychiatrist and public health advocate.
Visit Dr. Sederer's website at www.askdrlloyd.com - for questions you want answered, reviews and stories.
This stuff is the tip of the iceberg, stop letting the large corporate food processors write the laws.
However, I would not call this research 'ridiculous'. Type 2 diabetes has been shown to cause hippocampal atrophy. That means that it directly effects the part of the brain most associated with learning and memory. That does not mean 'F's, but it means that the academic performance of those with type 2 diabetes is lower at a statistically significant level. Also, engaging children, informing them and attempting to empower them with their own dietary choices will help reduce asthma rates, future heart disease rates, and cancer rates.
Some people are more genetically disposed to being fatter, but that can be counteracted if you watch what you eat and get lots of exercise.
I don't know if you've ever "counteracted" fatness... But it's really not that simple. "I'm going to drink half the sodas I do now and walk 3 times a week! I'm thin!" Yeah, no... It doesn't work like that for most people. And, frankly... I'm happy with my beautiful, fat body. People need to stop pushing fatties around. We're humans, not walking scapegoats.
Also, corn syrup inhibits one's body's capacity to process sugars, and leads one towards diabetes -- and yet it's in EVERYTHING. Soup. high fiber bars. Supposedly healthy food. You need to read the contents of absolutely everything that comes in a package.
And stuff that's "fat free" or "reduced fat" is, ironically, frequently the most processed, with the most artificial ingredients...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122536128
Peace,
Shannon
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/303/3/235/JOC90148T4
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content-nw/full/303/3/235/JOC90148T5
Considering projected demographic trends, this could be a concern.
Very grim findings for an already awful epidemic.
Peace,
Shannon
I get pretty angry whenever I see toddlers with Pepsi bottles in their hands, which unfortunately is not so farfetched these days!
Anecdotal evidence ftw.
And, like I said above, I think it's more likely that the harassment and hate fat kids experience in schools is more the culprit of bad grades. When you're in a threatening environment, you're not going to thrive and flourish, you're going to flounder.
Obesity is most commonly associated with poor diet and low amounts of physical activity. People who participate in regular exercise pump higher amounts of oxygen rich blood which eventually makes its way to the brain. The brain relies on oxygen and nutrients for normal function. There maybe other factors affecting the smaller brain size of the persons in Convit's study, but if the blood supply to the brain is poorly oxygenated it could be one explanation.
It is important to make the public aware of the dangers associated with extreme overweight and obesity. It's not possible to be simultaneously obese and healthy. Convit's work is sad but eye opening. Hopefully people will pay attention.
-healthy_blogging
Published daily, "Living Fit, Healthy and Happy" is a family-friendly health and wellness resource website with articles on fitness, anti-aging, obesity, diabetes, eating disorders, cardiovascular and respiratory health, mental illness and many other health related issues. There's always something for you at "Living Fit, Healthy and Happy".
Living Fit, Healthy and Happy
The website for people who are SERIOUS about leading a healthy life!
http://www.livingfithealthyandhappy.com
That in no way means that people who are active and eat well will be thin and in no way means that people who eat whatever they want and are never active will be fat.
Also, it is certainly possible for people fat and healthy. Many fat people are extremely healthy. You just don't believe it because of all of the propaganda and indoctrination floating around. It's easy to make money off of people when you tell them that they're not good enough and are going to die and then hawk a "cure." Especially when you put a statement like "For people who are SERIOUS about leading a healthy life!" because, then, when your "cure" fails, it's was THEIR fault because they weren't SERIOUS about it.
I call bull!
Metabolic rate, though unique to each individual, is still a number that can be defined. If the person eats less than their base metabolic rate says they need, they lose weight - it is simple thermodynamics. Fat can't appear out of nowhere, and won't vanish unless it's burned off. We also need to keep in mind that one person's definition of regular exercise and healthy diet will vary depending on many factors - their upbringing, their understanding of nutrition and how the body adapts to physical stress, willpower etc.
It is possible for an overweight person to be healthy only if they exercise at the same intensity and frequency as a fit person, but they eat an abnormally large amount of HEALTHY food. But people don't become overweight on plain chicken breasts and broccoli.
Medical science has proven that obesity is unhealthy. You are not discussing a topic but engaged in attack. You attacks are personal and I will not humor you.
healthy_blogging
Published daily, "Living Fit, Healthy and Happy" is a family-friendly health and wellness resource website with articles on fitness, anti-aging, obesity, diabetes, eating disorders, cardiovascular and respiratory health, mental illness and many other health related issues. There's always something for you at "Living Fit, Healthy and Happy".
Living Fit, Healthy and Happy
The website for people who are SERIOUS about leading a healthy life!
http://www.livingfithealthyandhappy.com
I do believe that schools can and should take steps to prevent obesity, if only to promote a better quality of life for schoolkids. This would include serving healthy food (not the fried cr*p we got when I was in school) and offering quality gym classes (yes to self-defense, swimming, and other activities that are fun and useful: no to the square dancing sessions that were pure hell for a teenaged ugly duckling.)
But I am not sure I buy Dr Sederer's causal linkage here. He himself states:
"The abnormal findings Dr. Convit found occur more in obese diabetic youth than in (matched) youth who also were obese but did not have diabetes (or pre-diabetes -- in which the body has developed insulin resistance)."
If so, then maybe the causal mechanism is not obesity per se? And maybe it is a stretch to offer the headline "*Obesity* Linked to Poor School Performance?"
There may be something to this, but I'm not convinced yet...
german kids go half day
it was better
"From counseling for kids who struggle with their weight, to cancer screenings for their parents, preventive health care will soon be available at no out-of-pocket cost under consumer rules the Obama administration unveiled Wednesday. That means no copays, deductibles or coinsurance for people whose health insurance plans are covered by the new requirements...Research has shown that people tend to skip recommended preventive care if cost is an issue, and even a modest copayment can make a difference. Cost-free prevention was one idea that received widespread support during the contentious health care debate last year in Congress."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/07/14/obama_healthcare_reform_prevention_free