In the good old US of A, folks spend billions of dollars participating in sports and sporting activities while many try to follow government recommendations in the consumption of the "right" food and myriad pharmaceutical products. Throw in the huge costs of health care, it sure seems like we Americans have spent mountains of money to attain something that we don't seem to be getting.
Another dismal report, this one coming from the American Association of Pediatrics, reveals that an ever increasing percentage of American children are developing diseases once thought the exclusive domain of older Americans. Liver disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol levels are the results of poor dietary habits which lead the way to obesity, which then leads to cardiovascular decline.
In a interview out of the Chicago Tribune, Dr. Seema Kumar of the famed Mayo Clinic pointed out that a big part of the problem is the under-recognition by parents and even doctors that there even is a problem. In reference to childhood obesity, Kumar remarked that "parents in general think that they will just outgrow it. They may not even consider that (obesity) as a problem."
Plenty of studies have been done over the past few years, with all of them having similar results regarding parental opinions on childhood obesity. Though a majority of American children now have a problem of being overweight, a vast majority of parents think their kids are not overweight. This denial of cold hard facts is having a deleterious effect on the future of our country with so many children being at risk.
The state of Arkansas recognized the problem of childhood obesity several years ago and mandated that public school children be weighed with the parents being informed and advised as to what the results meant. Quite a large outcry arose, not by parents were shocked to learn the truth about aspects of their children's health, but by parents who didn't want to know that aspect of their children's health. So the mandate was dropped.
A lot of elementary kids consume about 3,000 calories a day, when about 2,000 is all that age requires to be healthy. Too many calories get stored as fat, and the wrong kind of cholesterol found in poor quality of food winds up in the walls of blood vessels. Increased weight increases blood pressure with this and the aforementioned leading to damage to kidneys, eyes, lungs, the heart and the brain, to name a few.
Osteoporosis, once the domain of the old has been officially included as a childhood disease. The childhood years are when we build up the bones that we will be using for the rest of our lives. Current bone densities of quite a number of children is something like 80 percent lower than what it t should be. Adding extra weight to our bodies places extra stress on the skeletal structure, and with bones failing to develop the density they need to carry even normal weight, it is plain to see that there is a crisis in the making.
Quite a few experts have been predicting for the past few years that today's younger generation will be the first one since the founding of our nation to expect having shorter life spans. But there is a silver lining.
We live in the age of information. There are plenty available sources to find out what you can do to fight childhood obesity and disease. More and more health professionals are now recognizing the health threat that is looming before us.
If kids eat the right kind of food in the right amounts, and if they had a lifestyle that included exercise and physical activity, these same kids can look forward to a much better future than those who choose a low exercise, junk food way of life.
Major League baseball season reaching culmination
As the regular major league baseball season swiftly approaches its final month, the teams that have been leading the way the past few weeks have pretty much maintained their momentum, especially in the National League Central Division.
The second place Pirates of Pittsburgh had gotten red hot and had crept to within three games of the St. Louis Cardinals, who have led the division since April 17. The Pirates had hoped their four-game set with last place team Milwaukee would be their chance to narrow the gap with St. Louis who was hosting playoff contending Washington.
However, the Brewers swept the Pirates in all four games while St. Louis won its series against the Nationals, leaving the Cards six and a half games in front with 29 games left in the season. It has been a peculiar year for the Pirates.
They have the second best record in all of baseball, but in the games played in their own division, they are 21-32. That means they have won 75 percent of all their non-division games, the best mark by far of any team in the majors in that category. They have lost eight of their last 10 games against lowly Milwaukee. They actually have a losing record against all the teams in their division. Though they have the second best record in the majors, they will have to play in a wild card game likely against Chicago and, if the trend continues, they will probably lose the one game playoff.
Besides the three aforementioned, the other teams in the NL playoff mix look to be Los Angeles in the west and New York in the east.
Kansas City is still the class of the American League and are looking at very good odds of returning to the World Series.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 09/09/2015