Obesity and the family, round II

Last week the professors who participated in the Obesity and the Family conference last year came back to town and our office ran the second conference for three days. We take care of all the arrangements and I must admit that I really like this part of my job. Event planning is one of my favorite things to do. These professors are quality people. Smart, capable and so engaging. They ask really interesting questions and it's a pleasure to spend time with them. The conference was held here locally but we did go up to Sundance again for dinner one night. Sundance is a little jewel in our community and it is so close to the metropolitan area. It's great to escape and get there in less than 30 minutes.

Many of the visiting professors had never been to Utah before coming last year and they are blown away by our mountains and the campus setting here in town. They're getting ready to publish their findings after working on their research for this last year and I find it very interesting to hear about their findings. I thought I'd list the titles of their papers and share just a few facts from each presentation.

Here goes:

• Using incentives to encourage healthy eating in children - The United States continues to confront the growing levels obesity among all age groups, but particularly among children. Childhood obesity carries with it numerous future costs including decreased labor productivity and increased risk of diabetes. What are the root causes of the increase in obesity among children and how do we encourage the recommended behavioral changes that include a better diet and more exercise? Do incentives promote long-run changes in behavior or do they simply stimulate short-run changes?
• Marriage and body mass in later life - a study that investigates marriage and body mass among those ages 51-80 in the US. Studies show that unmarried men are significantly lighter than married men, but unmarried women are significantly heavier than married women. Significant spousal concordance in body mass is found, suggesting shared obesity risk factors. Obesity is an important public health concern because of the strong association between body mass and many measure of health. There are strong connections between body mass and chronic diseases and on disability. Obesity in middle aged predicts later mortality as strongly as does smoking.
• Individual and school factors associated with body image and obesity among US middle and high school students - American youth are on track to become the most obese generation of adults in history. There is a 12% increase in obesity prevalence for both children and teens between 1980 and 2006. Health risks associated with child obesity are serious and long-term. They are at risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, asthma, liver disease and sleep apnea. Psychological risks are a serious concern as well. Obesity among children is associated with negative self-esteem, withdrawal from interaction with peers, depression, anxiety and the feeling of chronic rejection.
• The relationship between body mass index and unhealthy weight control behaviors among adolescents: the role of family and peer social support - overweight and obese girls were more likely to engage in unhealthy weight control behaviors than their healthy weight peers. Boys and girls who found communication with their parents to be difficult, who endorsed lower levels of school support, or who engage in no or infrequent extracurricular activities, were more likely to engaged in unhealthy weight control behaviors than their healthy weight peers. Results suggest that adolescents are at high risk for use of unhealthy weight control behaviors and would benefit from interventions to increase knowledge and social support for healthy weight control behaviors.
• Genetic markers as instrumental variables: an application to child fat mass and academic achievement - Focus on the effect of children's fat mass on their academic performance.
• Obesity, family instability and socioemotional adjustment in childhood and adolescence - the last two decades have witnessed dramatic increases in obesity and family instability. These two trends may converge in the lives of individual children and adolescents. To the extent that the social stigma of obesity is a risk factor and family instability represents the potential compromise of important protective factors, their convergence may disrupt socioemotional development.
• The psychological consequences of weight trajectories - Studies show that persons who were persistently overweight or obese accept their excessive weight as part of their identity, whereas those who experienced weight change struggle between two identities: the weight they actually are and the weight that they believe exemplifies who they are. Interactions with family members and significant others were important contributors to weight self-concept.
• Parental employment, family routines and childhood obesity - there is a large and growing literature on the effect of parental employment on children's obesity. The time constraints make it difficult to maintain routines and may also result in more reliance on conveniences such as fast food. Employed women find less time spent cooking, less time eating with their children and a higher likelihood of purchasing prepared foods.
• Family mealtimes: a contextual approach to understanding childhood obesity - there is a growing interest in the role that shared family mealtimes may play in promoting the health and well being of children. Families that regularly eat their main meal together four or more times a week are more likely to have children who do better in school, are of average weight, less likely to use drugs and alcohol at an early age and consume more fruits and vegetables. Families who had a child of healthy weight spent more time engaged with each other during the meal, expressed more positive communication and considered mealtimes more important and meaningful that families who had a child who was overweight or obese.

I think that the topic of obesity and weight gain is very important and should be discussed in every family. What steps are we taking to stop the progression of obesity in our own families? The effects of obesity are so far reaching and have so many negative outcomes. I wonder if we could do a better job at doing the simple things like eating dinner together as a family every night, not eating too much fast food, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and exercising and being active in life. It's a challenge to do these simple things, but well worth the time and effort it takes. One theme that was repeated over and over during the conference is that it's easier to keep the weight off in the first place than to try and lose it later on. As Mormons, we don't smoke, we don't drink alcohol, but we sure do eat! As a culture, I think we could do a better job watching the high calorie foods we consume and get moving more to keep our weight in check.