Half of the children in North and South America will be overweight by 2010?
A recent study published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity examines the rise of childhood obesity in both the industrialized and developing countries of the world.
According to the report, the current rate of child obesity in North and South America is about 1 in 3, and will rise to nearly 1 in 2 by the year 2010. Rates in the EU are predicted to rise from 25% to 38%. Child obesity is rising rapidly in developing countries as well, with China projected to have a rate of 1 in 5 by the year 2010.
The dramatic increase is attributed to a combination of increasingly sedentary lifestyles, junk food, and prevalence of advertising and marketing promoting unhealthy consumption.
If the study projections are accurate, there are substantial public policy implications, due to the high correlation of health problems (heart disease, diabetes, stroke, etc) associated with obesity as individuals age.
Links:
- Study: Child obesity expected to soar worldwide, AP/MSN March 7, 2006
- Warning: Worldwide fat attack, SFGate.com World Views, March 7, 2006
- International Journal of Pediatric Obesity
Tags: obesity, nutrition, health, parenting, diet, childhood, weight
April 16th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
Wow, that would be crazy! That’s not very far off either. Hopefully the trend starts to change…
June 14th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
ya know this worries. i am currently 24 and have spent the last 4 months dropping 30 lbs.
overweight children did not seem to be a bi issue 10 years ago when iwas in school. we always had the 1 or 2 overweight kids that would get picked on. yes kids can be mean, but now i seems to be more wide spread to find a percentage of a school being overweight. no kid wants to be fat. no kid should have to enudr the embarrasment of not wanting to wear a bathing suit in summer simply beacause they feel ashamed of their weight.
sadly it usually comes from the parents who too have bad eating habits. i find it extreemly important to tech children at a young age good eating habits and being active. or els they may be leading into a long life of weight struggle.
July 4th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
This has gone too far. We need to take control of this issue as it is at a very dangerous level. It is time our government and corporations do something.