apparently healthy children have 3 or more risk factors for heart disease
• Overweight children have inflammatory signs which predict future heart disease and diabetes
• Between 34% and 65% of five year-old girls have ideas about dieting (5 year-olds. Dieting.)
• Dieting is the leading precursor to eating disorders and later obesity
• Irregular exercise, appetite suppressants, laxative use, vomiting, and binge eating predict excess weight gain
• Dieting girls have over three times the risk of obesity compared with non-dieters
• The psychological stress and social stigma of being overweight may be as damaging as the health effects
• The more overweight kindergarten and first grade children are, the lower their math and reading performance — the foundation for later academic underachievement
• If current trends continue, this generation of American children will grow up to be the most obese adults in U.S. history
• Long-term results of childhood obesity:
–Type 2 Diabetes
–Asthma
–Arthritis
–Liver disease
–Bowel cancer
–Sleep apnea
–Heart disease
–Lung disease
–Intestinal disorders
–Bone and joint complications
• The incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in children and adolescents has increased 500% in the past decade
The prime symptom of all these terrible outcomes is childhood obesity. Childhood obesity confronts one in six of our children. And