Unique Nutritional Needs for Kids with Autism

Steve Adubato sits down with Leslie Killeen, MS, RD, CDE, Registered Dietitian & Diabetes Educator, Summit Medical Group, to talk about the nutrition needs for children with autism, the latest guidelines on introducing children to peanuts, and ways to curb childhood obesity.

4/25/19 #2212

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Hi, I'm Steve Adubato. Welcome to One on One. Coming to you from the NJTV Studio in Newark, the Agnes Varis NJTV Studio. It is our pleasure to welcome Leslie Killeen, who is a Registered Dietitian, Diabetes Educator, Summit Medical Group. Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. We we're talking about this right before we got on the air, is it childhood obesity that's the epidemic? Teen obesity? What is it? It's childhood and adolescent obesity. Break it down. You said, in the last 40-ish years, from the 1970s? Since the 1970s, we've seen three times the amount of incidence of obesity in kids. Because? Because we see more sedentary activity, we see very little physical activity, we see screen time in... More and more screen time? More and more screen time. The screen time, the average amount of screen time that a child is on a screen, and it starts even before a year old, is seven hours a day. Seven? Seven. Recreational screen time. Not counting school. Leslie, what are the implications of this? If someone says, "Well, you know? Kids are heavier. But what does it mean?" So we already see kids with type 2 diabetes at a younger age than we used to see. We see kids with fatty liver disease, which is related to too much fat in the diet. Long term, we're going to see more disability in adults. Why? What's the connection between disability... obesity and disability? Because kids that are obese tend to be obese adults, and they already have hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol problems, type 2 diabetes... And to what degree...? I know people don't talk about this very much. To what degree, Leslie, does this add to the overall cost of healthcare? It's immense. You... first of all, there's lost time from work, there's less productivity we see sleep apnea, that's associated with obesity in children, and it goes into... Right. ...adulthood. Poor quality of sleep. Talk about this. Sorry for interrupting. So parents watching right now say, "Yes, and I could and should be doing what?" So we have this acronym that was... in 2007, Maine, for their obesity prevention initiative, came up with 5-2-1-0. 5-2-1-0? By the way, check on our website. We'll have some information on 5-2-1-0. Break it down. So we want to encourage children - and adults actually, to have five servings of fruits and vegetables in a day. Five servings...? Okay. And... One of our kids says, "I don't... Dad, I don't like fruit, and I want..." Nick, you know who you are. [laughter] And we've been trying to force him to do it. So... What? Do you sneak it? No..."