Rates Of Severe Childhood Obesity Have Tripled

“Rates of severe childhood obesity have tripled in the last 25 years, putting many children at risk for diabetes and heart disease, according to a report in Academic Pediatrics by an obesity expert at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. ‘Children are not only becoming obese, but becoming severely obese, which impacts their overall health,’ said Joseph Skelton, M.D., lead author and director of the Brenner FIT (Families in Training) Program. ‘These findings reinforce the fact that medically-based programs to treat obesity are needed throughout the United States and insurance companies should be encouraged to cover this care.’ The research was published on-line and will appear in the September print edition. Skelton and colleagues compared data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). They looked at the prevalence of obesity and severe obesity in a study population of 12,384 children, representing approximately 71 million U.S. children ages 2 to 19 years.”

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/159334.php