Tootsie. I dont answer your questions because you only use them to then throw something back at me.

Yes she did miss school, yes she couldn't play sport. No she wasn't hospitalised she was an outpatient. Is that enough? Now go ahead plan your attack. Obviously a child has to be on their death bed for you for it to count.

Jolanda,

How much school did she miss.

How much sport did she miss.

she was never admitted to hospital. Correct.

Just trying to clarify what your interpretation of "crippling" is.

I gather she was not close to "death bed" at any time. Right.

See Tootsie. See, I told you. How much is enough. If a child cannot get out of bed, if the parent has to turn them over in bed because they are in so much pain that they cannot turn themselves is that crippling enough for you.

Jolanda, whyI am asking is because my sons sometimes suffered like this at night. its growing pains.

how much time did she take off school

normally in the morning the pain is gone.

can you answer the question

I am not an expert on health but I will comment on a few questions that arise from your piece - I make no assessment of the ultimate "accuracy" of your article - I'm simply interested in raising some issues that would need to be resolved before making such an assessment. My brevity is due to the word limit.

"One reason for the confusion is that the people doing the research are, in many respects, normal. Like many of us, when they think of “health” they see images of elite athletes and supermodels, while exhibiting more than a tinge of middle-class self restraint when it comes to food." ----It is very unlikely that all researchers are that naïve. The extent to which they are naïve would be interesting to assess, and also the extent to which they are beholden to the whim of their funders also.

“Faced with the persistent refusal of Western populations to heed their dubious advice” is contradictory to your later claim that “there is plenty of evidence that, if anything, we are eating more of the food that nutritionists say we should.”

“there being no study in the history of science showing that childhood obesity causes you to die young.” ----I believe it is dubious to assess the impact of obesity in terms of longevity while ignoring the question of its impact on ongoing health.

“The evidence that children are doing less exercise is non-existent. In fact, some researchers concede that children are more, not less, physically active these days. The truth is we don’t really know.”---- If the evidence is “non-existent”, and contrary evidence exists, wouldn’t that be grounds that we CAN make a case (in favour of the latter)?

“Australians are living longer, healthier lives.” ---You now introduce the imporant area of ongoing health as a marker of positive outcomes, however “health” needs qualification. Have our perceptions of “healthy” changed? If a person requires daily medication to keep themselves healthy, is this equivelant to someone who doesn’t?

Your Inconvenient Facts (1 and 2) raise far more questions that they answer.