Madison Rio

News Analysis #1

Can excessive weight gain in early childhood affect teenage heart health? That is what
these scientists in Australia are trying to prove. Based on their study they found two
main pathways to obesity as a teenager- rapid weight gain in the first two years of life
(early weight gain) or rapid weight gain between the ages of two and five years of age
(later weight gain.) (Celermajer 2019)
The scientists took a group of 410 Australian children and evaluated them from birth to
the age of 14 years old. They recorded their weight, height, and waist circumference.
They published it in The Journal of Pediatrics and the results were as followed, 190
children of the 410 had increased cholesterol, blood pressure and obesity by the age of
14.

I think the possible impact of this study on individuals and society is that it will open their
eyes to their children's health. It may cause parents to be more mindful of the food
they’re consuming, how much they’re eating and whether or not they’re getting enough
exercise. It allows them the chance to identify any possible issues and intervene before
their kids develop increased cholesterol, blood pressure and weight.

The scientists in this article are affiliated with Sydney University in Australia. I don’t
believe it altered their conclusions since they stated in the article that obesity and
cardiovascular risks were the leading cause of death in adults in Australia. I think they
were just trying to raise awareness to an issue that could potentially affect them and
those around them. Because their only conclusion to this research was to make sure we
are paying attention to our kids health in their early years to avoid serious health issues
later in life, there isn’t anything that would change my view on this study. There wasn’t
anyone that was directly mentioned that was in disagreement to the study or its results.
I think everyone can agree it’s important to make sure our kids are and stay healthy.

This article didn’t really change my views on the topic of childhood obesity and the
health issues that can come from it, but it did refresh it in my mind. I didn’t really have
any facts on this issue but I did have assumptions. From my own experience it appears
children who are overweight and unhealthy at a young age have a harder time being
healthy and sometimes even doing healthy activities like running, playing sports and
riding their bikes. I chose this article to analyze because the title stood out to me
immediately and reminded me of a kid I went to elementary school with passed away
due to health complications he had his entire life. He was obese, had diabetes and
heart problems from the time he was very young. He passed away at the age of 16 after
suffering cardiac arrest. I do think the reporter did a good job at giving background to
the health issue and making it easy to understand what they were researching and why.
They gave exact numbers of the amount of kids they assessed for 14 years which really
helped put into perspective just how big of an issue weight gain can be. 190 kids out of
410 had issues later on in life as a result of bad health in their early years. That is
almost half of them.

University of Sydney. "Excessive weight gain in early childhood affects teenage heart health: Early
life weight gain can set teenagers up for poor health outcomes." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6
February 2019. <​www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190206101126.htm​>.

https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(18)31808-0/fulltext?rss=yes
Reflection prompt 1.​ Did your article, or things you saw in your search for articles,
change the way you think about science? Did you see evidence of scientists actively
engaged in public policy debates, and were you surprised by their level of advocacy?

- Yes my search for articles and the actual article I chose to write about changed
the way I think about science. I think it reminded me just how much goes on in
the background of research, experiments, and scientific evidence that either
supports or counters a scientific theory. I mean just in this article alone, these
specific scientists spent 14 years following the kids of the study to support their
hypothesis. In the article I chose for my news analysis, the doctors and scientists
were advocating for children's health. They were trying to make people aware of
the long term effects your kids eating habits and activity levels at a young age
can have on them as adults.

Reflection prompt 2. ​Discuss how your article made connections to another discipline,
like business, government, politics, economics, or humanities. If it didn’t make any
connections to other disciplines, discuss a connection it could have made.

- My article made connections with humanities. Humanities are studies about

human culture. My article showed that the food you consume, the amounts of it,
and your exercise intake as adolescents younger than 14 years old, can greatly
affect your body when you’re older. This can mean things like high cholesterol,
blood pressure and obesity.

Reflection prompt 3.​ Describe how the class as a whole has impacted your views on
science, the human body, and human impacts on the planet.

-This class gave me more of an understanding and breakdown of life, the human body
and the scientific process.