An apple a day could keep the pediatrician away
Posted Apr 26, 2012 11:32 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Experts are hoping an apple a day could keep the pediatrician away.
It’s part of a campaign created by medical students at the University of Calgary and a pediatrician who are hoping to curb the childhood obesity epidemic.
They’ll deliver a program, funded by the Department of Pediatrics, to grade-schoolers as they try to teach kids how to make nutrious choices.
Dr. Tehseen Ladha tells 660News it’s becoming a major problem in Alberta and something needs to be done before it’s too late.
“It’s widespread, the stats I have show in Alberta one in five children between the ages of 2 and 17 are overweight or obese,” she says.
Ladha sees a large number of children coming in with problems associated with obesity such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
She explains work needs to be done in the preventative field and explains that’s why they’ve targetted 500 grade four students in Calgary Public Schools.
“We find when they get to Junior High or High School, they’ve formed eating habits that are difficult to change,” she adds.
According to the doctor, the two main problems are eating habits and time spent in front of the screen.
“It’s amazing how many parents I see where they tell me kids are driving the choices at the grocery stores,” she says.
At the end of the campaign, they plan on giving parents surveys to see if the healthy attitudes their sons or daughters learned have translated to the home.
They hope to expand it soon to rural areas and province wide.
