Avoiding addiction in childhood

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news around the effects of movement and screen time on child mental health, on what parents can do to reduce the risks to their children after a gestational diabetes diagnosis, and on dentists’ increasing awareness of chewy weaning foods for better jaw growth. We then get into the nuances of GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic) - what they are for, how they work, and why they have effects beyond weight loss alone. We then discuss addictive things that Western children are exposed to, and look at what parents can do to delay the exposure of their children to these things.

Topics covered

* How increasing movement and reducing screen time affects mental health in adolescence [00:40]

* What parents can do to reduce the risk of obesity in children if they’ve been exposed to gestational diabetes [04:10]

* What dentists are saying to parents about foods at weaning [07:50]

* How GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic) work [10:20]

* How to raise children who won’t need Ozempic [19:32]

* How to avoid modelling and reinforcing sickness behaviours [35:08]

What topics should we cover next?

Resources mentioned in this podcast

* Increasing movement and reducing screen time affects mental health in adolescence- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2830233

* Modifiable behaviours that reduce the impact of gestational diabetes on children - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.24261

* Dentists recommending chewy foods: https://www.newsweek.com/ultra-processed-food-dentists-teeth-jaw-development-2018460

* Nozempic article and more references here:

* Television reduces the attention that children pay to toys: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1532-7078.2011.00070.x

* Fewer toys increase the attention paid to each one: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163638321000643

* Learned sickness behaviours in IBS