Why Are We Seeing More Chronic Illness at Younger Ages? (1:05)
Kids are eating more calories and sodium, as well as sitting more than previous generations, causing high blood pressure rates to spike. In this video, HealthMaker Alan Greene, MD, chief medical officer at Scanadu, shares tips to make kids healthier.
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There's a combination of things going on with the elevation of blood pressure in kids. Partly, they're getting more calories than they ever had before, so that this is coming from that. Partly, they are getting more sodium than they ever have before or their processed foods and even like milk shakes that they do for fast foods, sometimes have more sodium than french fries in there.
So, they are loaded with way more sodium than they need. And then on top of that, they probably the most sedentary generation of kids you ever raise. There're indoors, one estimates 93% of childhood now spent indoors and a lot of that sitting in chairs. So if we just had kids up and moving, it will be such a boon for them.
At home, I have my desk, as a treadmill/g desk. I love it, being able to stand up. If kids weren't sitting in chairs all day long at school, they could actually learn even better, and be getting activities during throughout the day. Yeah, I think it's a mistake for kids to ever be sitting as long as an hour.
It's not good for them, and if they get moving every 45 minutes then they're going to learn better, they're going to feel better, they're going to burn more calories, it's just all around the [UNKNOWN].
Pediatrician Alan Greene, MD, is a leading expert on kids' health and childhood nutrition. An advocate of organic food and environmental health, he discusses the link between childhood obesity and the broken healthcare system.
