Health in the balance
This is the first installment in a three-part Harvard Medical School series on childhood obesity. “Do you have a TV in your bedroom?” asks Elsie Taveras, associate professor of population medicine and pediatrics and co-director of the Obesity Prevention Program at Harvard Medical School’s (HMS) Department of Population Medicine. “What do you like to drink at home?” She’s speaking with Tiarra Francis, an 8-year-old from Dorchester. Tiarra’s mother has brought her to Taveras’ One Step Ahead Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, because she’s worried about Tiarra’s weight. “These girls at school, they call me fat, they call me ugly,” says Tiarra, her brown eyes wide. “That’s rude and sad to me.” But it’s not Tiarra’s appearance that has Taveras concerned. “See this dark ring?” she says to Tiarra’s mom, pointing to the child’s neck. “It could be an early sign of insulin resistance,” a precursor to diabetes. Tiarra, whose struggle with her weight...