ISU Bengal

Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: Life

Media Credit: MCT James Hernandez, 9, a participant in Kaiser's Childhood Weight Management Program, clowns as he showers off before swimming at the East Valley YMCA in San Jose, California, in February 2004. James has been swimming as part of the exercise requirement for the program. Hernandez lost 34 pounds during 20 week program. This photo was taken during the first week of the program. Though he enjoys swimming, the exercise requirement was the most difficult for James to follow.

Media Credit: MCT Ambulance personnel use a cargo net to move Patrick Dropp from his Garden Grove, California home to the hospital last August. At nearly 800 pounds, Dropp lives mostly in bed.

Childhood overweight and obesity is a growing problem in this nation. Overweight children are more likely to have severe health issues in their adolescence and as an adult. The most recent data indicates that in the United States about 16% of children ages 6 -19 years old, are overweight. Since the 1970s, being overweight has doubled among young children between the ages of 2-5 years, and tripled among school-aged children ages 6-19 years.

Overweight children and adolescents are at risk for health problems during their youth and as adults. For example, during their youth, overweight children and adolescents are more likely to have risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease (such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes) than are other children and adolescents.

Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults. For example, one study found that approximately 80% of children who were overweight at the ages of 10-15 years were obese adults at age of 25 years. Another study found that 25% of obese adults were overweight as children. The latter study also found that if overweight begins before 8 years of age, obesity in adulthood is likely to be more severe.

At the individual level, childhood overweight is the result of an imbalance between the calories a child consumes as food and beverages and the calories a child uses to support normal growth and development, metabolism, and physical activity. In other words, overweight results when a child consumes more calories than the child uses. The imbalance between calories consumed and calories used can result from the influences and interactions of a number of factors, including genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors. It is the interactions among these factors, rather than any single factor, that is thought to cause overweight.

It is important that children have a healthy balanced diet, and get plenty of physical activity. More and more children are watching TV, playing video games, spending time on the internet, and not getting the time they need outside, or participating in physical activity. Their diets increasingly consist of fast food, or unhealthy food at home. Foods should be checked to make sure they do not contain trans fats, hydrogenated oils, or high fructose corn syrup. These three ingredients are leading contributors to heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

To come up with a prevention plan for your children go to:

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/index.htm

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