According to the Surgeon General, for the first time in our history, the United States is raising a generation of children who may live sicker, shorter lives than their parents.

So the question is whether or not this statement is actually true. And the sad reality is that today, more and more obese children (body mass index-for-age percentile is greater than 95^th percentile) as young as 7 years of age are developing insulin resistance (Acanthosis Nigricans) or abnormal blood lipid levels–both prime risk factors for cardiovascular disease or stroke.

I personally find the statement to be true, because in my daily practice, I teach behaviour modification skills related to food and physical activity to prevent or treat chronic conditions, including obesity, to children as young as 5 years old. This is an astonishing age to be developing such problematic habits and life-altering health issues.

In the news, we hear about childhood obesity, but as a society, do we truly believe that we have a real issue on our hands?  According to the Office of the Surgeon General, “The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. has more than doubled (from 15% to 34%) among adults and more than tripled (from 5% to 17%) among children and adolescents from 1980 to 2008.”

These are alarming numbers!!

Even more alarming is knowing that if we as a nation do not start modifying our lifestyle, environment and behavior toward food and physical activity, today’s obese children will grow into obese teenagers and then into obese adults–an obese teenager has more than a 70% greater risk of becoming an obese adult, plus nearly three out of every four overweight teenagers may become overweight adults (Office of the Surgeon General)–at which point the damage will be too irreparable and the habits too solidified to affect a real impact.

So, it’s no wonder that childhood obesity has drawn enough attention to become a national priority, eliciting a collective effort from the First Lady Michelle Obama, and her new campaign “Let’s Move!—America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids.” Cutting across all ages, ethnic groups and genders, “Let’s Move! has an ambitious but important goal: to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.”

For those of us who are at the forefront of combating today’s obesity epidemic, we know that the threat of childhood obesity is real and already rampant among today’s youth. It is going to take a lot of hard work and collective efforts from all of us who are at the front lines of this movement, and we’ll need the support and collaboration of multiple sectors and passionate groups of individuals, such as Michelle Obama, along the way.

I love the fact that our First Lady has taken a personal stand with this issue and made this movement a priority; and I hope that through her work, awareness of this problem and support for education programs will increase.

This problem is not just an issue for the future, it is an issue that needs to be handled now.

I love the thought of a truly collective movement, “to provide HEALTHY Choices, HEALTHIER Schools, PHYSICAL  Activity, and Access to Affordable HEALTHY FOOD” today.” (http://www.letsmove.gov/)

0 Comments | Posted in Children & Health

There are no comments yet, add one below.