Babies and the ‘Cost of Inaction’

I, Healthyheartbeatz, a grown man of 25, have a soft spot for children in need. Me, with all of my bravado and manliness, me with all of my outspokenness and inclination to argue, YES I still cringe every time I see a helpless child in need on TV or displayed in an advertisement. That may have to do with my ridiculous sensitivity and sympathy, not to mention I am also very much so captivated by puppies, but that is besides the point of course! Children are our future and taking care of them is priority! We can’t let them turn into mindless zombies, something must be done!

Why must you bother me with all of this? Well, I stumbled upon a series of recent studies put together by (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights that of course made me cringe and fired up my synapses in order to reach out to you, our Wondergressivers (ererers). But let’s take it easy, I am not in any way trying to make you, our loving reader, pay anything or donate anything. This is a news group dedicated to researching and informing others! Naturally that is exactly how this will all play out, and without any final request other than for the lot of you to be “in the know”-

Onwards! The studies discussed were particularly interesting because they emphasize that poor kids that are suffering around the world are specifically suffering from inaction even when we are wasting 40% of our food as well as 25% of our freshwater daily. Sudhir Anand, speaking on a panel at The Forum at Harvard School of Public Health

Failing to intervene nutritionally to aid malnourished children can stunt them for life and failing to provide antiretroviral drugs to parents can turn their children into orphans, putting them at increased risk of falling into crime, drug abuse, prostitution, and other societal ills.

Just think, all of our non-action towards the kids of tomorrow acts as a catalyst for failure in the future. Who knows when the next Einstein will be neglected or the next Copernicus will starve to death or the next Socrates will be condemned by society… wait, just a second. Countess Albina du Boisrouvray, a passionate supporter of helping the children of the world and founder of (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights, said in an interview:

There are more than a billion of these children around the world, they are living in extreme poverty. They live by codes of conduct completely divorced from ours, and the older they get, the harder it will be to reintegrate them, even at great cost. Each day, they drift further and further.  A huge percentage of the world’s adults are going to be almost a different species. This is terrible for society and for the economy — for everything officials are supposed to be worried about — as well as terrible for the kids.

But of course it’s not only the poor who are suffering, we have kids suffering daily from our public school failures as well as neglected children of our country.

There is no link to donate, there is no outcry to change your ways, its a simple message, a pass off of knowledge. So don’t forget our youngins. Babies are our future, past, present, and just about everything else. Without babies we wouldn’t exist. Some babies are super lucky being thrown into traffic and surviving unscathed. Other babies are watched over by angels as they simply survive unforeseen complications at their birth. Just a little baby power to end on a high note. Preacher OUT!

 

Research:

(FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights

The Cost of Inaction

Cost of Doing Nothing

Wasted Resources

Forum at Harvard School of Public Health

Neglect – American Humane Association

Wondergressive: Public School Failure in America

Wondergressive: TV and the Brain

Wondergressive: Fat Poor Kids

Babies (film)

Baby Survives Car Crash in Russia

Baby Born With Heart Out of Body

Laughing Baby – Caution You Will Laugh/Giggle/Tehehehe

Fat, Poor Kids Just Got A Little Less Fat. Still Poor.

largedrinks

Child size please, no ice.

America, we are a fat nation – the fattest in the world, in fact. I’m willing to live with that designation. No matter which way my bulbous belly stumbles, there’s a dollar menu waiting to be ravaged and a maximum drive-thru limit to be tested. I’m not ashamed to have used all 8 of my car’s cup holders, are you?

Numerous studies have linked the poor with obesity. It’s not science, it’s a common sense mentality – poor quality, horribly processed food is within the grasps, and wallets, of many Americans. However, the CDC recently reports…KIDS ARE LOSING WEIGHT!

Well, POOR KIDS ARE LOSING WEIGHT! The rich ones were always doing alright.

Time to celebrate with a cereal bath!

We’re gonna celebrate with a cereal bath.

This study, based on data collected from 30 states and the District of Columbia, shows a marked decline in the prevalence of obesity in preschool-aged children in the lower income brackets. Extreme obesity, defined as a BMI of over 120% the 95th percentile, went down to 2.07% from 2.22% . Regular ‘ol obese kids dropped to 14.91% from 15.21%.

Those numbers don’t look too promising, but as Heidi M. Blanck, a co-author of the study, puts it:

The declines we’re presenting here are pretty modest, but it is a change in direction. We were going up before. And this data shows we’re going down. For us, that’s pretty exciting.

It’s a change of direction. That is what is important. This is the first study that has showed such progress, especially in the most sensitive of the population – our children.

How we’ve reached this point is uncertain, but we do know from another of Dr. Blanck’s studies, this one focusing on food marketing, that:

  • The amount of money spent on food marketing to children declined nearly 20% from 2003 to 2009.
  • Cereals marketed to children have averaged one less gram of sugar per serving than before.
  • Marketing of the unhealthiest of cereals (between 13 and 19 grams of sugar) has been nearly eliminated.

Not only has that helped, but things like fast food places placing nutritional content on menus and Michelle Obama’s new Let’s Move! Child Care initiative providing healthy alternatives to child care centers, all can help us curb childhood obesity from ever happening.

America, keep up the good work. Soon we won’t be the laughing stock of the entire world with our jumbo sized beverages and the fashion abomination that is Jeggings.

But until then, I’ll take the large.

Sources and further reading:

io9

NYTimes

American Medical Association

CDC

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/business/mcdonalds-to-start-posting-calorie-counts.html

http://www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org/welcome.html

http://www.watoday.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/the-new-fashion-monstrosity-20100407-rrd9.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/obesity-rates-rising-developed-fattest-world_n_1294212.html#s716476title=1_United_States

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/60/11/2667.full

http://money.msn.com/family-money/does-being-poor-make-you-fat.aspx

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/08/17/toddlers-tiaras-mom-could-lose-custody-daughter-because-puts-her-in-pageants/

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1487493

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/health/study-finds-modest-declines-in-obesity-rates-among-young-children-from-poor-families.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1369626954-wwBEC4RM4X0vAdqyKKCg5w

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/12/foodmarketing.shtm

Richest Woman in the World Tells Poor People to Stop Being Lazy

Are you tired of working day in and day out for a meager wage while your boss sits on his butt and gets a six figure bonus?  Great news, you can do something about it!

The richest and possibly unhealthiest woman in the world, Gina Rinehart,  has recently given poor people a great tip for life, “Do something to make more money yourself — spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working.”  Yeah! Get off your lazy butt, stop sleeping, and get a fifth job!

Now, Rinehart has every right to make such a bold statement.  She is after all an extremely hard worker herself.  It takes super human effort to be able to wade through $30.1 billion dollars of inherited money.

Thanks for the tip Gina.  You might be a sight for sore eyes, but you’re a saint where it matters most.

Richest Woman in the World Tells Poor People: Stop Being Lazy

 

Are you tired of working day in and day out for a meager wage while your boss sits on his butt and gets a six figure bonus?  Great news, you can do something about it!

The richest and possibly unhealthiest woman in the world, Gina Rinehart,  has recently given poor people a great tip for life,

Do something to make more money yourself — spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working.

Yeah! Get off your lazy butt, stop sleeping, and get a fifth job!

Now, Rinehart has every right to make such a bold statement.  She is after all an extremely hard worker herself.  It takes super human effort to be able to wade through $30.1 billion dollars of inherited money! Gina doesn’t like to talk about that aspect of her wealth though, you know, the origins of it…

Thanks for the tip Gina.  You might be the sterotypical ‘before-photo’ that personal trainers use for weight loss, but you’re a saint where it matters most.

 

Sources:

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-richest-woman-20120830,0,3323996.story?track=rss