Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Clumsy child = obese adult?

Were you one of those kids who broke things that you only had received a few hours earlier? Did you trip over things that weren't there? Did you constantly misjudge where exactly the door jamb was every day? I was.


I had bumps and bruises and tons of broken things that weren't broken before I got my hands on them. And, at 47, I'm still not the most graceful female to walk this earth. If there's a flight of stairs I need to take regularly, there's a good chance that I'll fall up or down them with regularity. If I'm in a hurry and fling a door open, there's a good chance my foot's in the way and the door will hit my foot (hard!) and bounce back, catching me as I'm trying to get through. On a good day - I'll have been wearing shoes at the time. On a bad day...


So, what has this got to do with anything? There's a new study that claims that clumsy children grow up to be obese adults. I'm not skinny minnie, but I'm nowhere close to overweight, let alone obese. but, according to the study, 11,000 people were tested at age 11 and were followed to age 33. The findings were published in the recent issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal).


The researchers didn't look at falling down stairs or tripping on invisible rocks, but rather they focused on the fine motor skills, picking things up, for example. According to this CBC.ca article, Clumsy kids more likely to become obese adults: study, "researchers said the risk of becoming obese in adulthood was more than doubled in seven-year-olds who "certainly" showed poor hand control during the tests and tripled for those who were affected by clumsiness, compared with children who were easily able to perform the tasks." I guess I'd better be careful!


Today at Help My Hurt:


If someone can’t talk - how do they tell you they have pain?


Osteoporosis doesn’t slow down Olympic cyclist Kristin Armstrong


Painful sex - some women not offered any options


Today at Womb Within:


You want to get WHAT pierced?


Guidelines for breast cancer treatment during pregnancy


Olympic swimmer has chicken pox: Another reason to vaccinate


News for Today:


Study: Some overweight people heart-healthy


Eating disorder risk high in young active women


For strokes, closest hospital might not be best


Running eases the aches of aging: study


Acid reflux drugs may heighten fracture risk


3 comments:

Melissa said...

Golly, I have to take Prilosec for acid reflux. (looking at the final link in your post)

I don't have osteoporosis that I know of, but I'm wondering if using Prilosec increases your risk of it? The article doesn't address that. I certainly did just whack the heck out of my right hand, but on the other hand I fell on it pretty hard. Bones would have to be made of rubber to survive a fall like that intact.

Don't want a broken hip though!!! No way.

Melissa said...

One other thing: singers have a propensity for acid reflux. Nearly all my friends have it, and it's potentially career-ending if not treated. I had to give up an important singing job when I was in the throes of it--kept losing my voice.

There are several theories about this. Mine are 1) that the abdominal pressure associated with classical singing technique contributes, and 2) singers have such strange schedules that they find themselves eating at odd hours (like after concerts late at night) and not very intelligently.

Marijke Vroomen-Durning said...

Thanks Melissa, that was really interesting information about singers. I don't know about Prilosec; I'll see what I can find.