Sound Medicine -- August 17, 2002

Barbara West and IUSM physician co-hosts talk to experts about:

Teaching nutrition to elementary students
Injuries at school

Adolescent self esteem and sexual behavior

Teaching nutrition to elementary students

Nutritional recommendations change like the weather. On the one hand, we hear about class action lawsuits against fast food companies for causing obesity-related illnesses. And then there's the recent New York Times Magazine article that says maybe an all-fat no-carbohydrate diet is actually most healthy.

What should we believe? More importantly, what do we teach our children? Antonia Demas, PhD, is a food educator who advises elementary schools on giving nutrition lessons to children. Identified as a "food activist" in the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Demas has created a curriculum called Food is Elementary. It combines science, nutrition, math and cooking.

Lamenting the poor nutrition of most school lunch programs, Dr. Demas advises parents to pack their kids' lunches. She tells why kids need to be educated about healthy food and explains her "Food is Elementary" program, hands-on lessons that integrate the study of food into school curricula. Demas emphasizes the importance of engaging children's senses when teaching about food.

Finally, Dr. Demas weighs in on the side of a low-fat, complex carbohydrate diet. She argues schools should keep fast food and soft drinks off campus, and she says a class action against fast food industry may not be such a bad idea.

Resources:

Learn more about Dr. Demas's "Food is Elementary" curriculum and how to obtain a copy of it.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Web site provides an excellent (and long) list of books, cookbooks and Web sites about teaching kids cooking skills and nutrition.

Have a picky eater? Dr. Demas recommends the book, I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, by Lauren Child. Available at Amazon.

Injuries at school

Once again it's back-to-school time, and the folks at the National Safe Kids campaign have our attention. The two most dangerous times of the school day are recess and the trips to and from school. Today we talk about school safety with Jeff Mathews from Safe Kids.

Mathews promotes the installation of lap-shoulder belts in school buses, and says we may see them in Indiana soon. More dangerous and prevalent than bus crashes, he says, are drivers who disregard the stop-arms on buses. Mathews also advocates stricter standards for school bus drivers. In addition, he reports that 80% of all school-related injuries occur on the playground. He recommends parents insist the school uses soft surfaces under equipment and have it regularly inspected.

Jeff Mathews is director of the Automotive Safety Program at Riley Hospital for Children. He's also a public health instructor at Indiana University.

Resources

Riley Hospital's Automotive Safety Program.

The National Safe Kids campaign has great safety tips for parents, teachers, and other caregivers.

Adolescent self esteem and sexual behavior

A recent Indiana University study of adolescents linked early sexual behavior and self-esteem, showing that some old stereotypes are alive and well. Dr. Greg Zimet, professor of pediatrics and clinical psychology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, was one of several who conducted the study. He talks with us about the results.

The study focused on 200 participants from an Indianapolis high school. (As an aside, an alarming number of potential participants were ineligible because they had already had sexual intercourse.) The correlation was clear: early intercourse is more likely for males with high self esteem and for girls with low self esteem. Dr. Zimet explains how the researchers determined self esteem, and how it can be "false." Dr. Zimet talks about parental and popular culture influences, and raises questions that parents of teens may find troubling.

Resources:

Read more about the adolescent self esteem study at the IU School of Medicine news Web site.

The National Association of School Psychologists has a good handout for parents with insights on adolescent sexuality.

The American Psychological Association offers ideas for parents of adolescent girls, both about handling sexuality issues and about building self esteem.

Upcoming program:
The Internet has changed the way we communicate, but has it had an impact on shyness? Dr. Bernardo Carducci is a specialist in shy behavior and is studying how our virtual social lives impact our face-to-face interactions.

Are you shy? Contact us with your questions for Dr. Carducci.
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