Thanks for your input, above,– it’ll be great to hear what the medical people have to say about all this. Yes, #3, #8, and #9 scare me quite a bit as well!

My cholesterol tends to run high as well– and there are a few people who have a genetic predisposition towards higher cholesterol. My concern here is that I don’t believe that all of the children who are going to be put on these meds will actually be having a medical predisposition, but rather, just an unhealthy lifestyle.

Think about what’s happened with ADD/ADHD and meds. So many more people are on it than should be. We’ve got some children, who simply haven’t had enough discipline, some who aren’t sleeping well, some who are acting out for familial reasons, etc and yet we’re calling it ADD. Of course some children actually have ADD legitimately but it isn’t nearly the numbers who take the meds for it!

With these new cholesterol-lowering drugs for kids, will we be covering something up or over-diagnosing children with high cholesterol (and giving them drugs) when the actual issue is poor diet and lack of exercise? And if we do this, and the poor lifestyle continues, won’t we have a bigger problem on our hands?

I know you know what I’m saying here. I’ll be eager to hear what others have to say.

Dr. Robyn

My concerns are very deep that by providing a pill, we will not address any of the “real” issues here– the poor diet, the lack of exercise, and lack of overall health. The pill may “fix” one thing but high cholesterol is a “symptom” which we would now be covering up– a symptom of a larger issue. I wonder what else the poor diets and lack of exercise will bring on as we are treating the high cholesterol! Will we actually be setting our children up for more medical problems? And asking them to rely on meds for the rest of their life is scary.

In my curriculum next month, I quote Aristotle (not to get too philosophical here), who said; “We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an act but a habit.” I’m afraid that the opposite is also true– that we are making poor choices a habit by addressing them in the way the AAP suggests. While I understand “the need” for the meds, I just can’t believe that this is where we are today– can you believe that we “need” to go down this path since things have gotten so bad with regard to the health of our kids?

Bring on the 2 Angry Moms, Chef Ann Cooper, some of our excellent Powerful Words schools who are providing the daily exercise in a fun way!

OK– off my soap box– anyone else want a turn?

Dr. Robyn

As a children’s physical activity specialist, I’m appalled by these guidelines. I’ve often referred to AAP guidelines in my writing and speeches, encouraging people to heed them. I now feel that all AAP recommendations are tainted.

We are indeed a drug-addicted, quick-fix society. Now we will not only be modeling that behavior to children; we’ll be teaching it to them outright.

I’ve commented often that childhood, rather than being a special phase of life, has become a dress rehearsal for adulthood. But pills instead of play? Who could have imagined such a thing?

(Comment taken from http://drrobyn.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/tots-popping-pills-to-lower-cholesteral-necessary-or-poor-reflection-on-the-health-of-our-children/ )

The trouble is, that changing the diet and physical activity schedule of children takes more “work” than pill popping.

We need to start very early getting children into fun physical activities, getting them to drink water over soda, getting good school lunches into them, and teaching them that they can make good choices for their bodies. When we start early, this will actually won’t take any work at all since it will all simply be a habit.

Thank you for your feedback–

Dr. Robyn

(Comment taken from http://drrobyn.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/tots-popping-pills-to-lower-cholesteral-necessary-or-poor-reflection-on-the-health-of-our-children/ )

Your heads up on the numbers above have me wide-eyed, esp. #3, 8 and 9 on the media/marketing big pharm front…(if they can market TheraFlu with Happy Feet Penguins, imagine what they could do with statins and cartoon critters…eep.)

On a personal note, believe it or not, yours truly has high cholesterol (yah, despite, being thin, and the fitness/healthy lifestyle bit, hereditary for me I guess) and I’ve opted NOT to take statins regardless, and just keep trying to shift lifestyle choices…though as one who consumes copious quantities of veggies and fruit, it’s a bit hard to fathom what more I can do…(and ugh, those monster-sized fish oil tabs they want me to take are gross, too!)

Never been a pill popper, not wild about startin’ now…so I’ll stay au natural and fight the good fight… (in case that gives you a hint of where I stand with MY bod policy!)

Also firmly agree that the panacea approach is NOT the direction we want to be sending kids from the get-go…too many ‘easy fixes’ in life that do damage in the long run. Will get back to you on what the medical meisters say…
Best, Amy