The American Academy of Pediatrics recently decided to recommend more "aggressive" drug therapy for obese children. These recommendations basically put up a green light for all pediatricians to start prescribing statins to every overweight child that comes through the door.
If you've read this blog before, you are probably already aware my feeling about statins for adults is apprehensive at best. In essence I think they are likely to be dangerous and basically unnecessary for just about everyone, as long as other means of improving your health have been implemented.
Now we have our kids getting involved. Oh boy. Here we go.
Well, I guess the drug companies have pretty much got us covered now.....wait a second, what about our pets? They need to be saved too! Didn't I read something somewhere about high cholesterol in Siamese cats being linked to heart disease AND hairballs?
What about my fish, Henry? Do they make fish food-sized, little statin pills? Do they float?
OK, OK, I'm getting a little carried away here. But seriously, let's forget for a moment all of the things we know about statins and how they are probably not very effective at all anyway, and just think about this for a moment.
Shouldn't the money being spent towards getting statins approved for kids, along with the millions that will inevitably be spent on future TV ads with Elmo talking about the dangers of high cholesterol, be put towards trying to educate children and their parents about healthy eating, exercise and stress reduction? After all, these are much more creditable, effective ways of preventing heart disease.
If a child is obese, shouldn't we be spending our money trying to get PE programs back into their school curriculum, or to support the local soccer league and encourage them to join a team?
I swear, our health care system is so incredibly backwards and corrupt I think it may drive me insane!
Please do your child a favor, the next time you see Elmo on TV holding a bottle of pills up to the screen, change the channel. Better yet, turn the TV off and take your kid to the park.
Well, I guess the drug companies have pretty much got us covered now.....wait a second, what about our pets? They need to be saved too! Didn't I read something somewhere about high cholesterol in Siamese cats being linked to heart disease AND hairballs?
What about my fish, Henry? Do they make fish food-sized, little statin pills? Do they float?
OK, OK, I'm getting a little carried away here. But seriously, let's forget for a moment all of the things we know about statins and how they are probably not very effective at all anyway, and just think about this for a moment.
Shouldn't the money being spent towards getting statins approved for kids, along with the millions that will inevitably be spent on future TV ads with Elmo talking about the dangers of high cholesterol, be put towards trying to educate children and their parents about healthy eating, exercise and stress reduction? After all, these are much more creditable, effective ways of preventing heart disease.
If a child is obese, shouldn't we be spending our money trying to get PE programs back into their school curriculum, or to support the local soccer league and encourage them to join a team?
I swear, our health care system is so incredibly backwards and corrupt I think it may drive me insane!
Please do your child a favor, the next time you see Elmo on TV holding a bottle of pills up to the screen, change the channel. Better yet, turn the TV off and take your kid to the park.
Posts
