Health

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29755469


I’ve chosen an article on the topic “Health” with the heading ‘Have the Danes cracked childhood obesity?’.  It’s published on the BBC.COM website on November 8. The Author, Malcolm Brabant, draws our intention at the problem of Childhood obesity. This problem is a worldwide epidemic, but now there’s a scheme that ‘helps children shed pounds by asking them and their families to make numerous lifestyle changes’.  This scheme was successfully adopted in Denmark and helped  70% of patients to maintain normal weight by adjusting about 20 elements of their lifestyles. The main strategies are:  plate proportions for dinner should be half vegetables, a quarter brown rice, pasta or potatoes, and a quarter low fat fish or meat , no fast food or white bread for lunch; choose brown bread, meat, fish and vegetables instead , limit juice, iced tea, cocoa, soda or lemonade to once weekly - only half a litre in total , free physical activities like walking/biking after school, walking the dog or trampolining .Dr Jens Christian Holm in his interview says that children suffering of obesity are neglected and Danish doctors create the environment and tools with which the children and their families can overcome this problem. By the way of illustration, doctor tells about two boys who succeed in their common problem. The first, Jakob, weighed 72 kilos at the beginning of the program. His habit to eat sweets for comfort and passing the passive time by sitting at the computer and lazing around persisted for a long time, but then he could change it with the help of this scheme and  the family . The same was with another boy - Mike Nelausen. "Sadly, we experienced time and again, that it was difficult to recruit and motivate families. Now we see that we have finally found a method that works and families have really embraced", says Rikke Christensen, a health visitor.

Children changed their eating habits, their manner of spending time and they got a success. ‘The program isn't easy. But the results are gratifying’, says Dr Holm, believing that this scheme will be extending across the whole planet.
In my opinion, this article is worth reading. It’s pleasant to know that lots of suffering children got through such an awkward illness like the obesity. I completely agree with Malcolm Brabart’s words that obesity is ‘a global epidemic, but it is not easy to treat’. The cause of this problem is deep inside the child’s head and to overcome it there’s need  to recruit and motivate the whole families. The hardest thing is to make the first step. It becomes easier when you’re not alone in your fighting that’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appeared. The result is 70% of patients maintained their weight loss for four years. It’s amazing that this success rate was achieved with an average of just over five hours of medical consultation per child per year. Danish doctors made a great breakthrough to the happy healthy future and I believe that other countries would establish similar treatment programs. Do you think that the same centers will appear in other countries? Is it essential to help children in fighting with their obesity and why?