Children's Health Notes

Updated with Notes from a Recent Issue

 

AAP RELEASES NEW POLICY ON CHOLESTEROL SCREENING FOR CHILDREN
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued new recommendations that include cholesterol screening for children and teens with a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease. It also recommends screening kids whose family history is unknown or those who have other factors for heart disease, including obesity, high blood pressure or diabetes.  Screening should take place after age two, but no later than age 10, says the AAP. The best method for testing is a fasting lipid profile, which involves a simple blood test. If a child has values within the normal range, testing should be repeated in three to five years.  For children who are more than eight years old and who have high LDL (bad cholesterol) concentrations, cholesterol-reducing medications should be considered, says the AAP. (Healthier eating and increased activity would also be recommended, of course.)  Children under age eight with elevated cholesterol readings should focus on weight reduction and increased activity while receiving nutritional counseling, the AAP advises. The statement also recommends the use of reduced-fat dairy products, such as two-percent milk, for children as young as one year of age for whom overweight or obesity is a concern.
KIDS ASSOCIATE ALCOHOL ODORS WITH MOM’S EMOTIONS How children respond to the smell of alcoholic beverages is closely tied to their mothers’ reasons for drinking, according to a new study from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a non-profit independent scientific institute in Philadelphia. When asked to smell both the odor of beer and an unpleasant odor and then indicate which they preferred, children of mothers classified as “escape drinkers” were more likely than children of non-escape drinkers to select the unpleasant odor over beer. “Children’s responses to odors provide us with a window into their emotions,” says study lead author Julie Mennella, Ph.D., a biopsychologist. “When given a choice between beer and pyridine – the smell of rotten eggs – children of mothers who drink to relieve tension and worry choose pyridine as smelling better. That’s pretty powerful.” In the study, published in the journal Alcohol, 145 children between ages 5 to 8 were presented with seven pairs of odors. One of the odors was always beer. The others were bubblegum, chocolate, cola, coffee, green tea, pyridine and cigarette smoke. For each pair, the children indicated which odor they liked better. Mennella notes that because odor information travels directly to areas of the brain that deal with non-verbal aspects of emotion and memory, studying children’s responses to odors provides insights into their emotional worlds. “Like adults, children are not very good at identifying odors,” she says. “However, they are good at telling us whether they like an odor or not. This study shows that whether they like the odor of beer depends not just on how often their mother drinks, but on why she drinks.” The children’s mothers completed a questionnaire about their drinking habits, including their reasons for drinking. Thirty five were classified as escape drinkers, based on their indicating having at least two escape-related reasons for drinking. These included: helps to relax, need when tense and nervous, helps to cheer up when in a bad mood, helps to forget worries and helps to forget everything. Relative to children of non-escape drinkers, children whose mothers were escape drinkers showed greater dislike for the odor of beer, even when beer was compared with unpleasant odors such as pyridine and cigarette smoke. Questionnaires also revealed that escape drinkers drink more often than non-escape drinkers. Because of this, children of escape drinkers were exposed to alcohol odors more often. These children also experienced alcohol in a different emotional context, as the questionnaires revealed that their mothers were more tense and more likely to worry and feel guilty about their drinking. “Even before their first taste, young children are learning about alcohol and about why their parents drink. They do this by seeing people drink and hearing them talk about it,” says Mennella. “Our findings show that children are also processing the smell of alcohol with the emotional reasons their mothers, and perhaps fathers, drink.” Mennella notes that additional research is needed to determine whether children who dislike the odor of alcohol and experience it in a negative emotional context are more or less likely as adolescents or adults to seek out alcohol when stressed. CHILDHOOD-OBESITY RATES LEVELING OFF, SAYS CDC There was no significant increase in obesity in U.S. children and teens between 1999 and 2006, in contrast to the increase in obesity rates that had been reported in prior years, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers obtained height and weight measurements from 8,165 children and teens as part of the 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination surveys, which represent kids from across the U.S. This is good news, of course. But we still can do much more toward improving kids’ diets and encouraging them to get off the couch. As another school year starts, we can teach our kids to pack healthy school lunches or choose lower-fat options at the school cafeteria. We can encourage their participation in sports and other physical activities. And we can set a good example, on these lovely September evenings, with a family walk or a bike ride after dinner.

 

Kathy Sena is a freelance journalist specializing in health and parenting issues and is the mother of an 11-year-old son. She writes for Family Circle, Woman’s Day, the Los Angeles Times and many other publications.