Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/too-much-national-growth-childhood-obesity/5017060/
�" Situation �"I am having a difficult time getting clothes to fit my five year old. The length of her pants is right but she cannot zip them up because of her tummy (well, actually �" she isn’t the only one with this problem!). Can a child this young be overweight?
�" Solution �"
It isn’t the clothes
Unfortunately, your daughter’s sweet belly is not baby fat. These days we hear more than ever about children’s weight �" and with good reason. According to the American Obesity Association the percentage of obese children more than doubled (7% to 15.3%) from mid-1970 to 2000, while the adolescent rate tripled (5% to 15.5%). Related to this shift is the appearance of Type II Diabetes, a disease once unheard of in children but which can lead to everything from heart problems to kidney failure. Estimates are that 2.7 million adolescents are at risk for developing this disease, in addition to the 39,000 who already have it.
It seems that we and our children have become as fat-drenched as the 1.85 billion pounds of chips we eat each year; more sugar-laden than the 20+ teaspoons of sugar our daily taste buds crave; and more loaded with extras than ...