Experts Cook Up Recipe For Obestiy

[johnny]

Experts cook up recipe for obesity
Sunday, May 8, 2005

By BRIAN SPADORA
HERALD NEWS


PATERSON - Food servings have gotten much larger in recent years, and as a result, so have many American children.

A lack of physical activity has compounded the problem and created an obesity epidemic, said Maria C. Young, family and community health sciences educator and department head at the Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension Service of Passaic County.

Young hosted a daylong Children's Health Summit Saturday at Passaic County Community College.

The event, open to the public, featured presentations by dieticians and health care workers about the causes of childhood obesity and what can be done to prevent it.

In addition to the health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes, obesity causes economic and psychological problems, Young said. Parents of obese children must spend more money on clothing, and obese children are more likely to be bullied, she said.

"We know what the contributors are - too much food in and too little exercise," she said.

One way parents and children can fight obesity is to have greater awareness of portion sizes, said Karen Ensle, a registered dietician and educator with the Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension Service of Union County.

Ensle showed slides comparing portion sizes and calories of various foods 20 to 50 years ago with servings today.

Many of the roughly 50 audience members gasped when they learned one bagel 20 years ago was 3 inches in diameter and 140 calories, compared with today's bagels, which are twice that size and have 350 calories.

Ensle advised eating only half of restaurant serving sizes and avoiding foods, such as soft drinks, that are high in calories with little or no nutritional value.

"The fast food chains aren't going away. They're going to be here," she said. "People need to know what decisions to make."

Brenda Berkley, a social worker with Catholic Family Services in Paterson who attended the summit, counsels residents of the Riverside Housing Development.

She said many residents of Paterson public housing are dealing with obesity.

"This information that (Ensle) shared with us right now was very good, because we do have a lot of problems with children that are overweight," she said.