Currently viewing the category: "teens"

Hate to be the One that Tells You, but…

By On · Add Comment · In American Beverage Association, children, obesity, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, soda, soft drinks, sugar, teens

In my recent obesity debates, I noticed a disturbing trend among many proponents of fantastical new theories on obesity, which included some doctors: They were adopting a “obesity is far too complex to blame a singular (or few) product/action” position. As I remarked in an earlier post, I think this poorly thought out opinion only perpetuates the problem.  No less erroneous than the genetic theory of obesity, denying the obvious simply gives the obese person a reason to pull themselves, and their lifestyle habits, out of the equation. As a result, it ensures that obesity will remain a lucrative disease entity in need of a cure (à la cancer).

Case in point: In response to a recent report coming out of the Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, that has showed soft drink manufacturers to be stepping-up advertising to children and teens, particularly blacks and Hispanics. The American Beverage Association, whose members include soft drink companies, disputed the study’s findings. Said the group’s Chief Executive Officer Susan Neely in a statement,

“This report is another attack by known critics in an ongoing attempt to single out one product as the cause of obesity when both common sense and widely accepted science have shown that the reality is far more complicated.”

Uh huh…listen up obesity enablers: Aspects of obesity may have some complexity to them, but how it originates physiologically in the individual isn’t complex. Any right-minded person not driven by profits or ego (doctors…) simply cannot deny that imbibing ten teaspoons of sugar (contents of one can of soda) will lead to metabolic and hormonal changes that ultimately cause obesity.  If you’re this person, forgive me but…you’re an idiot.

Is Your Kid a Vegetarian?

By On · Add Comment · In health, kids, protein, teens, vegan, vegetarian, vegetarianism, vitamin B deficiency
Have you heard? 1 out of every 200 kids is a vegetarian. Dang, that’s dumb!

A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that a whopping 367,000 youths don’t eat the meat. Some vegetarians eat fish and dairy, others are vegan–no meat, no dairy, nada. The typical teen vegetarian is female, from higher-income family, living on the East or West coast. Sound familiar?

Vegetarianism, isn’t just for girls anymore; plenty of boys are doing it, too. Rarely is this dietary lifestyle taken up for health reasons. Most kids cite animal welfare as the reason they’re doing it. They don’t eat meat because…it’s inhumane. Swear. And with the popularity of certain chicken slaughtering videos on You Tube…well, I guess you can figure out the rest.*

Wow! I’m sure you can guess my feeling on this. If you read my monthly articles, you definitely know I think it’s a dangerous health game to be playing–vegetarianism for kids, that is. I said so in my last article on protein and vitamin B deficiency. Kids keep growing until they are 25 years old. They need protein; they need nutrients (vitamins B, D, iron and calcium); the best foods to get them from is meat, fish, and dairy. Yes, you can get protein from vegetable sources. But it’s hard; and it requires lots of planning and preparing–something that most adults have a hard time doing, let alone your average teenager.

But the conscience of the typical teen vegetarian guides them, along with some good old fashioned parental ignorance. Listen up parents: vegetarianism isn’t in the best interest of your child’s health. I predict we are going to see some ill adults within the next 20-30 years as a result of this fad.

*I talk about the unacceptable conditions of many of the country’s poultry farms in my book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health; but I don’t think that endangering one’s health with vegetarianism is the answer.

Racy T.V. Raises Teen Pregnancy

By On · Add Comment · In pregnant, T.V., teen pregnancies, teens, television

Your teenage daughter into Gossip Girl? Sex in the City? If so, there’s a greater chance she may become pregnant. So says the latest study on the subject published in the medical journal, Pediatrics.

According to the study conducted by the RAND Corporation, teen pregnancies are twice as likely among teens who watch a lot of TV with sexual dialogue and behavior than among those who have tamer viewing tastes. The study looked at 2,003 12 to 17 year old girls and boys across the country. The teens were asked about their T.V. viewing habits in a telephone interview conducted in 2001. They were then periodically re-interviewed–the last time in 2004–and asked about pregnancy. Teens who watched the raciest shows the most (Sex in the City was one of more than twenty shows asked about and recorded in the study) were twice as likely to become pregnant (or get a girl pregnant in the case of boys) than teens who “hardly ever saw them.” Friends and That ’70s Show were a couple other shows considered racy.

Having two daughters myself, I find this study interesting. First off, I’m no moral majorist–I have no beef with these types of shows being on television. However, I’m pretty adamant in my belief that lots of television watching turns people into idiots; so my wife and I pretty much discourage that as our childrens’ primary activity. A little T.V. here and there is fine. But sitting for hours like a zombie in front of the idiot box is simply self-destructive. Numerous studies come out every year showing the detriment of television watching for kids even beyond teen pregnancy, so why get them hooked early on?

According to the study, teen pregnancies were increased even when other factors were considered, including grades, family structure and parents’ education level, so don’t think it can’t happen to your kid. Have you watched television lately? Why would anybody want to watch the mundane lives of reality “stars” anyway? Rachel Zoe, indeed. My advice is get your child into art and reading right away. That’s what we do. And we have pets, so the girls have lots to keep them occupied–chasing, poking, talking, petting, screaming–much more fun than the garbage that’s on the stupid-box.

More Cannabis Controversy

By On · Add Comment · In causation, correlation, depression, marijuana, medical marijuana, suicide, teens
I told you, keep your eyes peeled: Marijuana is once again being fingered as a serious health threat. The Federal Government last week released a report stating that marijuana use among teens can lead to depression and–gulp–suicidal tendencies. According to the report provided by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, “A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed—25 percent compared with 12 percent.” And “teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers.”

I reported on the increased attacks on cannabis consumption last year in a couple of posts (here and here) and I said then that I believe the heightened attention has to do with the explosion of medical marijuana dispensaries across California. Now, legality or no legality, it seems odd to place so many ill effects (unproven if I may add) to this mostly benign substance. But the Puritanical powers that be see pot smoking as public enemy number two, right after tobacco use.

What is important in this story is that we really need to distinguish between the concepts of correlation and causation. Correlation is a mutual relation of two or more things. It means that we tend to see a relationship among certain things. Causation, on the other hand, means one thing causes another. So the fact that smoking pot causes one to get high is a definite causation. But smoking pot causing one to become depressed and even suicidal is really stretching the truth. The adage in science and statistics is “correlation does not imply causation.” Period.

Although our Puritanical roots may lead our government to see nothing but the ills associated with marijuana use, as attested by research conducted by our Centers of Disease Control (CDC)*, British research shows something different. According to Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization that advocates the decriminalization of marijuana, “This very week the British government’s official scientific advisers on illegal drugs issued a report saying they are ‘unconvinced that there is a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and any affective disorder,’ such as depression.

Like I said before, there is a real battle going on and it ain’t gonna be pretty. But if certain factions persist, you may see some changes in policy in the near future.


*I’d also like to point out that the CDC probably has data only on dysfunctional individuals who present with a variety of problems. I’m certain they have no data on the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of totally functional citizens who consume cannabis on a regular basis. Why would they? It’s still illegal, isn’t it? Boing!

Sleepy Teens

By On · Add Comment · In circadian rhythms, computers, drowsiness, health, internal clock, melotonin, rhythms, sleep, teens

Hey parents: Give Junior a break! He’s tired all the time for a reason. Don’t knock him for napping until you’ve read this: Most teens don’t get enough sleep and suffer in their school work because their internal clock makes them night owls. So says an Australian study showing that the average teenager misses up to an hour of sleep at night and wakes up 2.5 hours earlier than their naturals rhythms dictate.

According to researchers, a teenager secretes melatonin–the hormone responsible for causing drowsiness–later in the evening than adults and children do; and they are thus more alert during the evening hours, leading to their greatest productivity. Furthermore, ambient light–the type of light given off by computer screens–actually decreases melatonin secretion causing even less drowsiness. So teenagers working at night on computers will be even more likely to stay up late.

I talk extensively about melatonin and sleep inducement in my new book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health. Since I believe that getting sufficient sleep is one of the main ingredients of great health, naturally I’m inclined to support teens in their unique circadian rhythms. An excellent solution to counter-balance poor performance in schools would be to start classes at 10am and finish at five in the evening. I’ll bet most high schoolers would welcome the later schedule and I’ll even bet some teachers would dig it too. And just think how positively it would impact big city traffic.

Without a doubt, teenager need adequate sleep. If their natural rhythms run a little later than our own, let’s honor that and start treating high schoolers like college preps. It’ll help their academics and it’ll be healthier for them–isn’t that purpose and benefit of doing research? to understand truth and then apply it? If nothing else, give Junior a break if he wants to sleep in on the weekends–it’s his rhythm.

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