In an attempt to combat Michigan's childhood obesity epidemic, Gov. Rick Snyder announced today that the state would begin tracking kids' body mass index through the Michigan Care Improvement Registry. Although the policy would be one of the most extensive government anti-childhood obesity efforts, pediatricians were divided over whether it would have the desired impact.Physicians are among the least equipped of all to offer weight loss advice. (e.g., see here, here, here, here and here.
The tracking system would encourage pediatricians to calculate patients' BMI using height and weight measurements, and report these numbers to the state through the existing immunization tracking system, the Michigan Care Improvement Registry. The numbers would be reported anonymously, meaning that the child's identity would not be connected to his or her BMI in state records.
The hope is that having doctors track height and weight in this way would encourage more discussion among parents, kids and doctors about the dangers of being overweight, says Geralyn Lasher, director of communications at the Executive Office of the Governor.
The new policy does not require that doctors discuss obesity with kids and parents, nor does it provide physicians with the extra time or training needed to discuss weight problems -- a narrowness of focus that some doctors believes will limit the policy's effectiveness.
As is anybody associated with sick care, the diet industry or government.
The time to track these kids is when a fat person gets pregnant, not when the kids are fat and in school.
By then it will be too late.
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