Doctor: Some kids can’t recognize fruits, vegetables
Some kids in Memphis are so used to processed foods that they have trouble recognizing some types of actual fruits and vegetables, said Dr. Joan Han.
She leads a pediatric obesity program at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center and University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Han’s fruit comment was one of the more colorful details to emerge from a State of the State’s Health roundtable on Tuesday. The meeting was held in the Church Health Community Room at Crosstown Concourse.
The event was organized by the Governor’s Foundation for Health and Wellness,a statewide organization that urges people to exercise, avoid tobacco
and eat healthier food. The foundation operates the Healthier Tennessee program.
Kids have usually seen common fruits like apples, oranges and bananas, but might not know others, like peaches, which they’ve only seen in fruit cups or similar formats, said Nichole Reed, a dietitian who works with Han at the hospital’s Healthy Lifestyle Clinic.
One class exercise at the clinic involves teaching the difference between a processed fruit substitute, like a fruit-flavored drink, versus a real, less familiar fruit like a peach.
“And we had each kid hold the peach, look at it and smell it, verify it’s a real fruit,” Reed said.
Then they’ll practice reading nutrition labels for processed “fruit” foods, like fruit roll-ups, and find out that they’re mostly high-fructose corn syrup, she said.
About 30 people working in health care, business and political leadership gathered for the discussion.
Leaders in Memphis have been talking about obesity and other health problems for years. And as the leader of the Governor’s Foundation for Health and Wellness acknowledged, the statewide statistics on exercise, tobacco use and diet are much the same as when Gov. Bill Haslam launched the program in 2013.
“We haven’t moved very much,” said Richard Johnson, president and CEO of the foundation. “And I will be the first to say that.”
But he argues that the state can’t afford to allow preventable health problems to continue, because they’re far too costly.
Laura Berlind with the Sycamore Institute, a public policy research center in Nashville, presented charts that showed that often-preventable diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure cost the state billions of dollars each year in medical care, lost productivity and premature death.
And Tennessee is worse off than many other states in many aspects of health behavior. For instance, 22 percent of Tennesseans smoke tobacco, compared to 17 percent of people nationwide, Berlind said.
Leaders said social and environmental factors, such as big portion sizes and sprawling suburban neighborhoods, also contribute to poor health.
During the discussion, Han mentioned the fruit anecdote, as well as several other insights, including that many people growing up today don’t know how to cook. Her center’s program includes training in food preparation.
She also raised a hopeful note: she said even a relatively small weight loss can lead to much better health outcomes among obese adults.
And Cristie Travis with the Memphis Business Group on Health said trying to convince people to change their behavior is hard. By contrast, when governments or businesses put policy changes in place, those changes affect far more people, she said. For instance, smoking bans in workplaces have greatly reduced exposure to secondhand smoke, she said.
The event ended with Johnson asking the leaders to sign up to join the statewide effort to improve health. He said changing these realities won’t be easy. “It’s going to take some real significant lifting to make this happen.”