I recently read your article on childhood obesity. There were a couple of things that I found to be misleading. The study done with American Indian children was very interesting, but I didn't think it was completely justified to say that all American children are susceptible to premature death. According to the US Census Bureau in 2008, American Indians and Alaskan Natives only make up 1.6% of the total population. I think representing all children with that 1.6% is a stretch. Furthermore, the last paragraph saying that even though doctors say your kid looks OK, obese kids should "still warrant our attention". This made me feel that you wanted people to fear obesity as if it is some dark mystery. I suppose being a bit skeptical with doctors isn't all that bad--but it isn't necessary to make obesity into this incurable para-normality. The real problem here isn’t obesity, it’s—like you said—impaired glucose tolerance and prediabetes. Doctors are able to diagnose this and treat it. The point is, not every obese kid will die before 55. Your article leads me to believe this. You might have loss some shock value by leading readers to the real concern—prediabetes and glucose intolerance—but we would have been more informed.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The 'Obesity' shock value
1. The Star Tribune did an article titled Obese Kids Face Twice The Risk Of An Early Death, Study Finds. My problem with it is that even though the article ties itself to the entire American population, the study was done specifically on American Indian children. Also, the article leads you to believe that childhood obesity is this terrible mystery and that even doctors can't fix it, when in truth, it's not so much 'childhood obesity' but pre-diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance.
2. Dear Roni,
Sincerely,
Alex Hathaway
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I really like the direction you're taking in your letter or rough draft of your letter. It's problematic to survey a subpopulation or culture that barely makes up 2% of our entire population. Besides, could these culture's have predispostions to obesity or disease? It seems as though the survey should've been cross-cultural in order to clear up this discrepancy. It's very clear that obesity is a problem, but like you said, it's not necessarily obesity in itself, but rather the short-term or long-term affects that obesity can have on the human body. And as you had mentioned, these are the issues that need to be more readily revealed and addressed. As you said, I don't feel that people should coorelate fear with the term "obesity," but rather take the time to acknowledge and determine the actual effects that make obesity a disease, like impaired glucose tolerance and prediabetes.
ReplyDeleteWow, i'm very glad you understood what i was going for here. Thank you. For a second there i thought i was crazy and maybe the article was right. It's sweet to see someone else with some reason. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGuys,
ReplyDeleteThis exchange shows exactly why 'obesity' is SO hard to get a grip on--maybe isn't even a singular phenomenon. Hang on to these good ideas for when we get to 'food.'