I am copying in the full text of the article on obesity, that was written by
Globe & Mail reporter Andre Picard, and appeared in the Saturday August 2,
2003 issue of the Globe and Mail newspaper, and Dennis Raphael's letter to
the editor commenting on it.  
When Dennis Raphael posted his message to the CLICK4HP listserv, it appeared
to be only two lines - the long website address for the article, and only
the title of the article on stress and obesity.  The rest of the article and
his response letter was contained in plain text attachment. Although the
CLICK4HP health promotion listserv is set to not allow any attachments, it
appears that most of D. Raphael's messages go to a plain text attachment.
These attachments are safe, do not have viruses and are in a very readable
plain text. Please double click on the attachment and see the rest of the
information that he has sent.

If you have any difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact the CLICK4HP
list-facilitators by sending an email to <[log in to unmask]>.

Alison Stirling, co-facilitator, CLICK4HP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030802.ufatt0802_n/BNSt
ory/National/

Stress linked to obesity in school-age children
By  ANDRÉ PICARD
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Saturday, August 2, 2003

British researchers have found a new explanation for soaring childhood
obesity rates: stress. The study of more than 4,000 schoolchildren found
that the more stressed they were, the more they ate. The most-stressed kids
ate more than twice as much as their less-anxious classmates during meals,
and supplemented
that with frequent snacking.

But quantity was not the biggest problem. Stressed-out kids favoured fatty
foods, and shunned healthy foods almost entirely. They also had a tendency
to avoid breakfast, a hallmark of people with poor dietary habits. "Stress
appears to be consistently harmful to children in terms of steering their
food choices away from the healthy and towards the unhealthy," said Jane
Wardle, director of the health behaviour unit at United Kingdom Cancer
Research. She said developing these poor habits in childhood and early teen
years can be  particularly damaging because it sets a pattern that can
follow them into adulthood, where serious health problems can result from
obesity. Dr. Wardle added that while stress may be an important factor, it
is not the sole cause of childhood obesity. Inactivity, poverty and poor
nutritional habits for reasons other than stress
can also play major roles, she said.

The study, published in the August edition of the journal Health Psychology,
focused on 4,320 children who were 11 years of age. To gauge their stress,
the children were given a standard questionnaire that included questions
like: "How often have you felt that you couldn't control the important
things in your life?" They were also quizzed on their consumption of 34
common fatty foods and on their consumption of fruits and vegetables.
Curiously, children who were already overweight were not among the biggest
eaters, and they reported low consumption of fatty foods. Dr. Wardle said
that was not surprising because this pattern of fudging what is eaten is
common among overweight adults during research.

In Canada, 37 per cent of children aged 2 to 11 are now overweight, and
fully half of that number are obese, according to figures published last
year by Statistics Canada. Childhood obesity is becoming a worldwide
epidemic, not just a Western phenomenon. Another study showed that the
prevalence of obesity is soaring on three continents, and across economic
strata.


Dear Editor: [log in to unmask]

It was so refreshing to see Globe and Mail public health reporter Andre
Picard present the links among living circumstances, stress, and obesity in
school-age children (Stress linked to obesity in school-aged children,
August 2, 2003). It has been known for many years that nations with little
poverty, strong social safety nets, and responsive governments report lower
incidence of disease, higher life expectancies, and lower injury and obesity
rates among children. Knowing this, we would expect governments to do as
much as possible to  reduce family and child insecurity as possible.  One
means of doing so is to study and implement the public policies typical of
nations presenting such exemplary population health profiles.  Sweden,
Norway, Finland, Denmark, Belgium and Luxembourg, among others -- not the
USA -- come to mind.

Dennis Raphael

-----Original Message-----
From: Weiqiu Yu [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 8:59 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: obesity


> Stress linked to obesity in school-age children
>
> By

???
____________________________
Weiqiu Yu
Department of Economics
University of New Brunswick
P. O. Box 4400/Fredericton
N.B., Canada E3B 5A3
Tel (506) 447-3211
Fax (506) 453-4514
Email: [log in to unmask]

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