NurseWeek

Obesity rising among children

By Brad Parker
Health24News
October 10, 2000


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Washington (H24N). America's children are living large, probably too large.

The American Obesity Association (AOA) is calling on politicians, parents and educators to stop what it calls the epidemic of obesity in America's children. This on the heels of a new report in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that says obesity in the United States went up almost 6 percent from 1998 to 1999.

The JAMA report, "The Continuing Epidemic of Obesity in the United States," says that obesity is up in both sexes, all age groups, all regions and all income and educational levels. In 1991 not a single state had an obesity rate of 20 percent or higher, but in 1999 16 states had reached that level.

"A jump of this magnitude in only one year is as unbelievable as it is scary," said Richard L. Atkinson, MD, president of the AOA. "Medicine has never seen an epidemic of this proportion."

The AOA is especially concerned about the prevalence of obesity in school-aged children. Schools are cutting back on recess and physical education at a time when 20-29 percent of children are either obese or overweight and at risk for obesity, according to the AOA.

"Parents, politicians and educators need to wake up and see what we are doing to our children," said Judith Stern, vice president of the AOA. "Prevention is essential. Schools have thrown recess and physical education out the back door and have pulled in junk food in the front door. They are making our kids fatter every day. It is time to stop balancing school budgets on the hips of our children."

Parents seem to be taking notice. A recent survey of more than 1,000 parents released by the AOA shows that nearly 80 percent were opposed to cutting back on recess and physical education to increase academics. But the AOA says politicians are not taking notice.

"The irony of these figures is that the two presidential candidates have focused their campaigns on children's education and children's health yet ignore an epidemic exploding all around them," said Morgan Downey, AOA's executive director. "No one candidate has spelled out how he will stem the tide of obesity in this country."

But as the JAMA report indicates, children are not the only ones affected by this epidemic. Obesity affects nearly 20 percent of adults, and nearly 30 percent are overweight and at risk for obesity. According to the AOA, obesity causes more than 300,000 deaths in America each year and costs the country around $100 billion.