“I knew there was something in the chicken!” – A recent study about female puberty highlights why food equity is important.
Is it just me, or have you noticed that kids are getting, um, bigger…faster than when you were a kid? And I am not just talking about height. Some of these 10 year-olds have so much “meat on their bones” that even Oprah is soapboxing about childhood obesity. (And I am not trying to imply that Oprah is big boned…I am just saying, it’s not like the media icon was winning “Presidential Fitness” championships in high school.)
Apparently, childhood obesity doesn’t only impact your ability to run around the playground. According to a new study by the Journal of Pediatrics, it can also make you start puberty earlier, especially if you are a young African American girl. Get this, almost 43% of African American girls had started puberty by the age 8! That’s 25% higher than white girls!
Now, I’m sure that there are some folks that are going to start blaming black parents for this alarming statistic. But not me. I blame the system. Yeah, you know, The man!
Have you ever tried to get a healthy meal in the inner city….it’s impossible. It’s not like Wholefoods or Trader Joes are competing for brand domination in the hood. But it’s not just the supermarkets and bodegas that suck. Fast food restaurants are serving high fructose corn syrup and hormones to addicted customers 24-7-365! And I love soul food, but the sad reality of African American cuisine is that it is directly tied to the legacy of slavery and sharecropping. Come on, chitterlings!?
The truth is that childhood obesity, and now premature puberty is a food equity issue. Local and state governments have to do a better job of thinking about the health of their citizens in the zoning and public planning of our communities. Because not having access to some “good ol’ healthy food”, is a lot more weighty of an issue than we thought.
