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Editorial
Two messages, one goal: Healthier lives for children
Thursday, July 21, 2016
"Team Henry" rolled through McCook this week with the message that kids can overcome obesity with an active lifestyle and healthy eating habits.
You can read about Dr. Pierre Rouzier's cross-country bicycle trip on mccookgazette.com or in Wednesday's Gazette, where a story and pictures about his visit to the McCook Public Library were printed on page 7.
His book, "Henry Gets Moving," is about Henry the hamster's success in the effort.
Now comes a study that only a small effort can make a big difference.
For the study, researchers found 37 children, ages 9 to 18, who were obese and at high risk for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.
No, they weren't put on a diet as such, in fact, they were given food and drinks totaling the same number of calories, fat, protein and carbohydrates as they usually at.
The only difference was they ate lower-sugar foods like bagels and pizza instead of pastries and sweetened yogurts, lowering their dietary sugar from 28 percent to 10 percent, and fructose from 12 percent to 4 percent of total calories.
After only nine days, blood samples found a 33 percent drop in triglycerides, a type of fat tied to heart disease, and a 49 percent drop in a type of protein tied to high triglycerides and dramatic reductions in "bad" cholesterol, all risks for heart disease.
"Sugar calories are not like other carbohydrate calories," said study co-author Dr. Robert Lustig, a professor of pediatrics in San Francisco. "Without changing total carbohydrate or fat or protein, we were able to accomplish this enormous improvement in their cardiovascular risk factors" unrelated to weight loss, he said.
Like movies aimed at kids, which often are often interspersed with material aimed at adults, both the "Henry Gets Moving" and sugar-reduction efforts have value for adults as well as children -- in fact, they're likely to be completely ineffective without adult buy-in.
With a little determination and effort, both parents and children will be able to enjoy longer, healthier lives together.