Illustration by Fred Rix

Report card on children's health.

Excess weight is not a new topic to anyone. According to Statistics Canada, in 2004 twenty-six per cent of Canadian children and adolescents (two to seventeen years old) were classified as overweight or obese. The last accurate report was in 1978/1979 with fifteen per cent for the same age group, meaning we have witnessed a whopping seventy-per cent increase according to the Community Health Survey. The situation is so drastic, parents should literally develop a family game plan immediately. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported eighty per cent of kids aged ten to fourteen who were overweight will be obese as adults.

Surely, by now, we have been exposed to these statistics long enough to have seen some signs of improvement, right? In your dreams. With new video games, fast-food establishments, and liquid dessert coffee shops gaining popularity, it is hard to imagine kids requesting carrot and celery sticks for lunch. The irony of our tougher economic times and the growth in market share in fast-food restaurants says it all.

The reasons for childhood obesity (or extra weight) are clear: runners collect dust, food quality and nutrition are very poor, and hormone imbalances are catered to daily.

In June, Active Healthy Kids Canada released its 2009 report card on physical activity for youth and children. For the third consecutive year an "F" was assigned to physical activity levels. This means eighty-seven per cent of Canadian kids are not meeting the recommended guidelines of ninety minutes of activity each day. A 2005 report revealed that childhood sports participation was only thirty-five per cent if zero parents were involved, and an incredible eighty per cent when one parent was the administrator of the event.

Another interesting trend involves schools reducing physical education (PE) requirements and recess in exchange for more time spent on academic performance. The irony of this is huge, as a report involving kids from Ontario who participated in a school health initiative with physical activity found a thirty-six-per cent increase in reading scores and twenty-four-per cent increase in math scores over two years.

Better reading and math scores were linked to:
• Improved blood flow to the brain,
• Increased attention span from adrenaline,
• An increased ability to relax,
• Greater feelings of school "connectedness,"
• Improved neurotransmitter function.

Generally, Canadian teenagers participate in PE until grade ten. After grade ten (or PE 10) they have the option of not participating. Manitoba is the only province that mandates PE for each grade in high school. New Brunswick has also sharpened its hockey skates by hiring trained teachers specializing in PE. The question one must ask is, when and will the other provinces follow suit?

The Report Card also assigned an "F" to Screen Time, as ninety per cent of youth spend too much time in front of any screen. Less than two hours is recommended for all kids, but sadly many Canadian kids get close to six hours a day-yes, six hours a day! Screen Time includes more than just traditional TV watching; computer time (not including homework) and video games also count. Comupter game manufacturers aren't oblivious to such concerns: Nintendo developed the Wii, which encourages users to move as they play. A study by Liverpool John Moores University found Wii users burn about forty per cent more calories than users of traditional games using controllers, but Wii causes side effects like "Wii elbow." This gaming device often replaces true physical activity, and the reality is, Wii cannot replace any real live sport, as the social interaction is minimal and the fresh air is none.

Ryuta Kawashina, a professor at Tohoku University, specializes in brain imaging. He discovered exactly how computer games stunt teens' brains. In his study with hundreds of teenagers, he had one group of students performing simple, repetitive, mathematical calculations, and the other group playing Nintendo games. The math calculations stimulated both the left and right hemispheres of the frontal lobe, the area associated with learning, memory, emotion, and self-control. The Nintendo games appeared to stimulate only areas associated with vision and movement. In truth, the frontal lobe of the brain develops until about twenty years of age, and the more "work" or "activity" done to thicken the fibres in it, the better. With much computer game use comes a halt in brain development and behavioural self-control.

Whether one is parked in front of a TV or computer, the basal metabolic rate is going to be affected and slow right down. A Statistics Canada Health Report from June 2008 reports fewer fruits and vegetables are eaten with higher levels of TV viewing. The Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study, with more than three thousand kids, revealed the most common vegetable eaten was fried potatoes, starting at fifteen months of age. It is hard to really credit french fries as a true vegetable. The study also reports twenty per cent of toddlers at fifteen months of age have no discrete serving of vegetables daily, which predicts a likely negative pattern for adulthood.

Another interesting report from USA Today discussed how snack trends have changed over the last twenty years. For kids under six, fruit has gone to the top of the list, replacing cookies among snack categories. This may sound promising, but the reality is much of the fruit is in the form of "fruit bars" or beverages, which parents should use with caution. Both fruit-type bars and beverages lack crucial fibre and deliver a good dose of sugar, which in regular dosing can cause hormone imbalances from insulin.

Insulin is supposed to bring blood sugar levels down when sugary food is consumed. This can include simple sugars like jam, honey, juice, lattes, candy, and ice cream. The more "sugary" the food, the more your blood sugar will rise, followed by a hard fall. When blood sugar levels drop too low, one can get moody, irritable, and tired, and develop cravings for more sweets. The more insulin you produce, the more abdominal fat you will store, as they hold a direct relationship.

New reports have been released on high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has sometimes been shown to carry the heavy metal mercury. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) published a report in January 2009 stating mercury was found in almost half of samples tested of commercial HFCS from three different manufacturers.

HFCS was introduced into the U.S. market in 1967 and its growth has exploded. The HFCS was cheaper, sweeter, and acted as a preserving agent. Today, HFCS constitutes more than forty per cent of all caloric sweeteners added to beverages, cereals, breakfast bars, condiments, yogurt, and soups. The big question is, how does mercury find its way in? The earliest stages of HFCS processing use caustic soda to separate the cornstarch from the corn kernel. Hydrochloric acid is then added to preserve the pH. The starch is then treated with an enzyme to create glucose, which lastly gets converted into fructose. Caustic soda comes in two grades: membrane-grade or mercury-grade. And you as a shopper have no way of knowing which kind the
food item contains.

Mercury can cause damage to organ systems, especially the brain, which is extremely vulnerable in growing children. The risk of impaired learning ability and lower IQ in children is one reason pregnant women are encouraged to limit their intake of fish containing higher levels of mercury. The Environmental Health Report went further and tested brand-name foods for mercury content.

The top five items with the most mercury found were:
• Quaker Oats Oatmeal to Go,
• Jack Daniels Barbecue Sauce (Heinz),
• Hershey's Chocolate Syrup,
• Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce,
• Nutrigrain Strawberry Cereal Bars.

Putting these numbers into perspective, IATP states the average person consumes about twelve teaspoons of HFCS each day, or one in every ten calories. CNN reported that the average child consumes twenty-nine teaspoons of refined sugar every day, which works out to be ninety-three pounds each year. Soft drink consumption has doubled in the last twenty-five years.

The risks associated with HFCS indicate it is important to know what to look for. U.S. food labels clearly state "high-fructose corn syrup," but in Canada it is called "glucose-fructose."

Another rule of thumb is to continue to be aware of the total sugar one is consuming. The more sugar we consume (excluding fruit, vegetables, and plain milk), the more we get caught in hormone imbalances and hard-to-control sweet cravings. The desire for an after-dinner sweet frequently visits, along with less energy, at wakeup time, too.

The World Health Organization recommends no more than ten to twelve teaspoons of sugar daily. For toddlers this number would be much less, as their calorie load is less. Teaspoons can be calculated by dividing the total grams of sugar (under carbohydrates on the food label) by four. This number equals the number of teaspoons present. Be aware that hidden sugar can be found in all processed food, but especially yogurt, juice, salad dressings, and cereal, hot or cold.

Tips to reduce sugar at your kitchen countertop:
• Use fresh fruit (like berries) to sweeten up cereals or oats instead of table sugar
• Cut the amount of sugar in recipes by one-quarter as the sweetness is often not noticeable, or half the amount of sugar with unsweetened applesauce
• Blend smoothies with real fruit versus fruit juice
• Look for breakfast cereals with eight grams of sugar or less per serving
• Use natural nut butters as spreads instead of jams or sweet spreads
• Blend strawberries with a small amount of water and use as a spread over toast, waffles, pancakes, or plain yogurt
• Combine sugary foods with protein or fibre in the meal, as this will lessen the blood sugar spike
• Artificial sweeteners may carry zero calories but due to their elevated sweetness can cause bigger sugar cravings in the day

About the Author and the Illustrator

Karla Heintz, B.Sc. Nutrition, wrote "How Our Kids Eat." Heinz is a Calgary-based TV personality, radio columnist, speaker, writer, and consultant for sports organizations and families. She is the author of Picky? Not Me, Mom! a guide to children's nutrition and how to make food fun again. See www.nutritionwithk.com.

Karen Fredericks aka Fred Rix illustrated "How Our Kids Eat." She says, "I knew cartooning and illustration was for me at an early age. My older and therefore larger sister won all our fights by simply sitting on me. So, I drew a picture of her . . . naked . . . and left it out for all to see on the day of her ninth birthday party. To this day, my heart pounds with pleasure, recalling the uproar, tears, and threats that ensued upon the very public discovery of the drawing. I did of course forfeit my slice of birthday cake that day, but the sacrifice was definitely worth it." Her work appears in major publications from Time Magazine to The New York Times, as well as dozens of smaller publications. Her portfolio of work is online at www.fredrix.com.