One-third of kids tip scales wrong way
By NANCI HELLMICH
Gannett News Service
April 11, 2006
A third of U.S. children and teens — about 25 million kids — are either overweight or on the brink of becoming so, the highest number ever recorded, according to a government survey out Wednesday. And about two-thirds of adults, about 136 million people, are overweight or obese.
The latest data is from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is considered the gold standard for evaluating the U.S. obesity epidemic because it is a large survey of people whose weight and height are actually measured.
The survey also found the percentage of obese men, those who are 30 or more pounds overweight, increased between 2000 and 2004. The percentage of obese women remained stable.
Public health officials warn the country could face an explosion in coming years of obesity-related health problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Type 2 diabetes already is at an all-time high among children.
“I was surprised that we could see an upward trend in such a short time among overweight children and obese men,” says lead researcher Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist with the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Among the findings reported in Wednesday's “Journal of the American Medical Association”:
•33.6 percent of children and teens, ages 2 to 19, were overweight or at risk of becoming so in 2004, up from 28.2 percent in 2000.
•More men are becoming obese, with 31.1 percent of men in that category in 2004, up from 27.5 percent. The percentage of obese women, 33 percent, remained about the same.
•30.6 percent of white adults were obese in 2004, compared with 45 percent of black adults and 36.8 percent of Mexican-Americans.
The latest numbers are a call to action to do something before things get worse, experts say.
“With this many children overweight now, we can only imagine that the great majority of this generation of children will be overweight or obese as adults,” says Thomas Wadden, president of the Obesity Society, an organization of professionals working in obesity research, treatment and prevention.
“Time is running out. My hope is that these statistics will convince parents, community leaders and business leaders that they have to take obesity seriously and take steps to arrest its progression in children and teens.”
William Dietz, director of the CDC's division of nutrition and physical activity, says the data about obese women is one reason to be “skeptically optimistic.”
“Women are the early adopters of new health behaviors,” he says. “If this truly is a plateau, it may represent the first step toward turning the corner on this epidemic.”
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