Report, which conflicts with recent CDC review, finds growing number of kids likely to suffer serious health problems
MONDAY, April 7, 2014 (He
althDay News) -- Contrary to a recent report with encouraging figures on childhood obesity in the United States, a new study presents a more sobering picture of the nation's pediatric weight problem.
Severe obesity, which sets kids up for a lifetime of health problems, has increased over the past 14 years, North Carolina researchers found. They used the same data that researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mined for their encouraging report in February.
"We found that the number of extremely obese kids seems to be increasing," said lead researcher Asheley Cockrell Skinner, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina. "This is particularly true for school-age girls and teenage boys."
Severely obese children are the ones most likely to have type 2 diabetes as teens and other problems such as heart disease later in life. They are also the children who will require millions of dollars in health care costs, she added.
Moreover, all obese children are likely to be obese adults, Skinner said.
Comments (0)