Childhood Obesity Overview

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious health problems facing our country today. Obesity has potentially devastating consequences for our youth and for our society as a whole.

In this resource, we use the terms “overweight” and “obese” interchangeably to refer to children with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 95% of other children of their same age and gender. These children are at risk for health problems related to their weight. See the Institute of Medicine’s publication, Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance, for more information on the definitions of these terms.

Reality Check: Facts on Childhood Obesity in the United States
The Numbers
Almost one-third of all children ages 6–19 are considered overweight or at risk for being overweight.(1)

According to the Institute of Medicine, there are 9 million children over the age of 6 who are obese. There is a 70 percent chance that an overweight adolescent will be overweight or obese as an adult.(2)

The Consequences
Studies show that as a result of diseases that are related to being overweight, children today may not live as long as their parents.(3)

Obesity is associated with diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, depression, breast cancer and arthritis.(4,5,6)

In the past 20 years, annual obesity-associated hospital costs for children have tripled.(7)

Being overweight negatively affects children’s relationships with their peers: they may have fewer friends or be subject to teasing. Teasing has been linked with an increase in suicidal tendencies in overweight adolescents.(8)

The Reasons
There are two main reasons that overweight has become such a problem for our children today: poor diet and lack of physical activity. Consider the following:

In 1994–1996, less than 21 percent of children ages 6–19 ate the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables.(9)
In 1999–2000, the number-one most consumed item by children ages 6–19 was carbonated beverages.(10)
Children 8 years old and older now spend an average of 6.5 hours a day on media including watching TV, using the computer and playing video games.11 Studies have shown that the more TV kids watch, the more likely they are to be overweight.(12)

The percentage of children’s diets consumed in restaurants (including fastfood) went from 6.5 percent in 1977 to 19.3 percent in 1996. Children consume almost twice the number of calories during a typical restaurant meal as compared to a meal from home.(13)

Food and drink companies spend on average 15 billion dollars a year on advertisements that target children.14 The average child sees 40,000 commercials a year, and more than half of these ads are for unhealthy foods like candy, soda pop and fast foods.(15)

Ninety-two percent of elementary schools do not provide daily physical education classes for all students for the whole school year.(16) The majority of our schools have vending machines available to students—75 percent of the drinks and 85 percent of the snacks in these machines are junk foods like sweetened soda, candy and chips.(17)

Sources
1. Hedley AA, et al. Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among U.S. Children, Adolescents, and Adults, 1999-2002. J Am Med Assoc 2004;291:2847-50.

2. Department of Health and Human Services Fact Sheet. The Problem of Overweight in Children and Adolescents. www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/fact_adolescents.htm

3. Olshansky SJ, et al. A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century. N Engl J Med 2005;352 (11):1138-1145.

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-94. Analysis by the Lewin Group [Falls Church, VA], 1999.

5. Action for Healthy Kids. The Learning Connection: The Value of Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity in Our Schools.

6,7,9,10,13,16. American Heart Association. A Nation at Risk: Obesity in the United States, A Statistical Sourcebook

8. Daniels SR, et al. Overweight in Children and Adolescents: Pathophysiology, Consequences, Prevention, and Treatment. American Heart Association Scientific Statement.

11. Kaiser Family Foundation 2005. Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year Olds. Menlo Park, CA.

12. Center for Health Improvement. 2005. Preschoolers Increasingly Overweight: Preventing Childhood Obesity: A Prop 10 Opportunity. Updated Policy Brief.

This information was brought to you from the Healthy Lifestyles at Home and School notebook, created in partnership with Parents' Action for Children.