How is it that we better-off Americans, perhaps the most health-conscious of any generation in history, have come to preside over the deadly fattening of our youth and their future?
Greg Critser, Fat Land
One-third of U.S. kids are overweight, obese or at risk.
In the U.S., obesity in kids has doubled in the last 20 years. In adolescents, it has tripled. (Source: Center for Science in the Public Interest, September 2003)
The increase in overweight children is twice that seen in adults.
Hospital costs related to child obesity have tripled in the past 20 years, reaching $127 million.
15% of kids ages 6-19 are “severely overweight or obese” -- double the 1970 rate -- based on their BMI.
About one-third of all kids under 18 are at high risk for Type 2 diabetes.
Most overweight or obese children become overweight or obese adults.
Children from minority groups show an even higher prevalence of obesity.
Among some population groups, adolescents account for up to half of the new diagnoses of Type 2 diabetes (which is caused by excess weight).
28% of 15-year-old boys and 31% of girls in the U.S. are either overweight or at risk for becoming so.
