Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Abstract

With all of the mudslinging that is taking place in the current healthcare debate, very few proponents and opponents seem to be addressing the elephant in the room-obesity. Childhood obesity, specifically, is rising at an alarming rate. "The prevalence of obesity (BMI 30) continues to be a health concern for adults, children and adolescents in the United States." Sadly, the rate of adult obesity is increasing almost as dramatically as that of childhood obesity. Based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) study, in the combined years of 2003-2006, of children between the ages of two and nineteen, 16.3% of them were obese. There is a 70% chance that a child who is obese will grow up to be an obese adult. Since adults do not seem to have a problem becoming overweight all on their own, there is no reason we should send kids into adulthood already burdened with this problem. I bet we all remember growing up and playing outside with our friends, riding bikes, and running all over the neighborhood. Children today cannot do this while they are plagued by excessive extra weight. "The habits you teach your child to day could mean the difference between life or death later on." It is estimated that "[o]besity kills 300,000 people a year."

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