The Change Mariner

Childhood Obesity Rate Triples

San Jose Mercury News:

The alarm over childhood obesity rang in 2002. New data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey showed that 15.5 percent of children were seriously overweight and 15 percent more were at risk of becoming so.

That was triple the rate of 20 years earlier.

Looking around them, health officials could see rising numbers of overweight children developing adult disorders such as heart disease and diabetes. Some were so obese they were turning to surgery to shrink their stomachs, an extreme procedure even for adults.

Looking ahead, officials forecast a huge medical bill for the United States, as this generation joins an adult population that is increasingly overweight. The 2002 health survey found 64 percent of adults overweight or obese in 2000, compared with 56 percent six years earlier.