ONE IN FIVE YOUTH AT RISK: LIFESTYLE CHANGES NEEDED? 

Carole Carson

In Pennsylvania, parents receive confidential letters encouraging them to change the lifestyle of their overweight and underexercised children. Letters to parents of high school students are next.

Retailers such as The Gap, Target, Lands’ End, Lane Bryant, and Limited Too are selling plus-sized youthful clothes in a booming market. Experts notice an alarming increase in Type 2 diabetes—formerly a “middle-age” disease—now showing up in young people.

Childhood Obesity Dramatically Increasing

What’s going on here? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the percentage of overweight children and adolescents has doubled since 1970. Increasing numbers of educators and medical professionals are alarmed at the rising incidences of obesity in young people.

Dr. Kenneth Jones, MD, chief of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California–San Diego, and Silva Arslanian, MD, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, are sounding the alarm. Dr. Jones reports an escalating trend with no reversal in sight.

Dr. Jones warns: “Obesity has become so common in the United States that one in five children is now considered obese. Kids are spending more time than ever watching television, surfing the Internet, or playing video games. They’re also spending less time playing sports or engaging in other forms of exercise.” Consumption of attractive fast food, high in calories, especially fat, also plays a role.

Even more worrisome is the dramatic increase in Type 2 diabetes. The potential for developing long-term complications are devastating. Eye disease, including blindness, along with strokes, kidney, heart, and nerve disease, are among the risks. Amputation and early death are the ultimate consequences.

Where to Begin

If change is to occur, parents must become role models, exercising and eating healthfully themselves, and getting their own weight under control. They must minimize TV and computer time while organizing an active lifestyle. Reducing fatty, sugar-loaded, high-calorie snacks and instead serving healthier fare is essential. Parents can begin by making small but systematic changes.

Schools can provide healthier menus, remove vending machines, and provide even more opportunities for exercise, including special events that emphasize fitness. We can’t let the challenge go unmet, lest our children have shorter and unhealthier lives than we parents have enjoyed.