Dr. David Smith, the president of SUNY Upstate Medical University, is a pediatrician himself. Throughout the course of his career, he’s watched the problem of childhood obesity become an epidemic in American society. And he knows that it can be turned around. “We know the prescription,” he told NewsChannel 9’s Carrie Lazarus. “It’s been time-proven.”
Dr. Smith says the epidemic is presenting itself in many ways. For the first time, doctors are seeing in children an increase in Type II Diabetes, the adult form. He relates that directly to the fat cells in their systems, and the added burden on the pancreas.
More and more kids are coming into Upstate’s Emergency Room and doctors’ offices with hypertension, a precursor to heart disease later in life. He warns that children are laying down fat deposits in their arteries. And the effects can be systemic… body-wide… impacting other organs, including the eyes and kidneys.
The emotional toll can be devastating… and not just for the overweight child. Peers in school and other social settings can be very unkind. Entire families, siblings and parents included, come under additional stress. Dr. Smith says overweight children are coming in with other emotional problems at an earlier age than before, including depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse.
“You can do something about it,” says Dr. Smith. “First, by taking personal responsibility. Exercise and the right diet will help reduce the risk factors.” He says that’s what “9 Kids Challenge” is all about. “…to demonstrate that this community can be involved. We can broaden a social responsibility, if you will, for our community.”
