A Generation At Risk

Of all the horrors of the obesity epidemic, childhood obesity is by far the most terrifying.  Nearly one out of every three American children is now overweight or obese, and will bear the consequences of that condition for the rest of their lives.[1] These children are more likely to remain obese into adulthood, and develop the serious complications of diet-related diseases early in life.  An entire generation is being resigned to a lifetime of suffering.

Diet-related diseases are occurring in children at younger and younger ages. In 1975, it was so rare to see a child with type 2 diabetes, it was called adult-onset diabetes; now, the Centers for Disease Control predicts that one out of every three children born in the year 2000 are at risk of developing the disease.[2] Other examples are revealed in studies with frightening regularity:

• fatty liver disease is becoming more common in adolescents;[3]
• young children are developing kidney stones from excessive salt associated with fast food, among other products;[4]
• obese children are developing arterial thickening in line with that usually seen in 45-year-old adults.[5]

Children are eating unhealthy food in greater and greater quantities, and the fast food industry has helped create a world where these eating patterns are the norm.  How do they do it?

• Billions of dollars in marketing, promotions and movie tie-ins;
• Manipulation of public policy to keep fast food cheap and ubiquitous;
• Co-option of nutrition science;
• Interference with our right to know what’s in our food.

We can do better. And for the health and lives of our children – and their children – we must act quickly.

1. Cynthia L Ogden et. al., “High Body Mass Index for Age among U.S. Children and Adolescents, 2003-2006,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 299: 20 (2008): 2401-2405, http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi//full/299/20/2401 (accessed February 5, 2009).

2. Fact Sheet, “Childhood Obesity in the United States: Facts and Figures, September 2004," Institute of Medicine, www.iom.edu/File.aspx?ID=22606 (accessed August 30, 2008).

3. N.J. Barshop et al., “Review article: epidemiology, pathogenesis and potential treatments of pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,” Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 28 (2008): 18-24.

4. Laurie Tarkan, “A Rise in Kidney Stones Is Seen in U.S. Children,” The New York Times, October 27, 2008, D01, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/health/28kidn.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=October%2028,%202008%20LAURIE%20TARKAN&st=cse (accessed February 5, 2009).

5. Thomas H. Maugh, “Obese kids have arteries as think as 45-year-olds,” Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2008, A16, http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/12/science/sci-obesekids12 (accessed February 5, 2009).

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68845396@N00/164195749/