Wednesday, March 09, 2005

A word of caution about childhood obesity

The Agitator offers a thoughtful word of warning about overly heavy-handed nutrition interventions in children and youth, remembering that these age groups suffer from both high risk of overweight and high risk of eating disorders driven by weight-related insecurities.
New York, Arkansas, and a host of other states are considering ridiculously invasive measures like weighing kids every day, and sending home "fitness" report cards that grade a kid's weight, body fat, diet, and/or activity levels. They're getting heaps of praise from the fat nannies for their "proactivity."
In contrast with the Agitator, though, I would say that any national epidemic is the government's concern -- his strongest point is that this concern must be addressed with some care to ensure that the cure is better than the disease.

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