Effects of Obesity

Children

Childhood Obesity & Our Big Fast Food Health Problem
Children ages 6 to 11 were nearly two and a half times as likely to be overweight in 1999-2002 as they were in 1976-1980. Today's children eat as much as triple the amount of snack foods their counterparts were consuming just 20 years ago..
http://www.dinnerplanner.com/weight_problems.htm

Parents should play key role in fighting growing epidemic of childhood obesity
Most children are energetic, active and always up for something, right? Well, in most cases, yes. However, many children have a little harder time running down that sidewalk or riding that bicycle. The reason is something lots of children suffer from: obesity.
http://media.www.ac-ranger.com/media/storage/paper733/news/2007/09/27/Opinion/Parents.
Should.Play.Key.Role.In.Fighting.Growing.Epidemic.Of.Childhood.Obesity-3005814.shtml

School nutrition education programs are ineffective
The Associated Press: The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on nutrition education. But an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Only four showed any real success in changing the way children eat.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-07-04-fightingfat_N.htm?csp=34

Overweight Kids At Risk as Adults
Being overweight as a child significantly increases the risk for heart disease in adulthood as early as age 25, according to a large new study that provides the most powerful evidence yet that the obesity epidemic is spawning a generation prone to serious health problems later in life.
http://www.bcbs.com/news/wellness/overweight-kids-at-risk-as-adults.html

Children With Healthier Diets Do Better In School, Study Suggests
A new study in the Journal of School Health reveals that children with healthy diets perform better in school than children with unhealthy diets.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080320105546.htm

Childhood Obesity - A Threat to our Public Health
About 33% of US children and adolescents between the age of 2 and 19 years old are overweight and 17.1% of those are obese
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_leslie_071210_childhood_obesity___.htm

Advertising And Childhood Obesity: Food Companies Changing Little, Study Finds
Science Daily: Research shows that a year after major food companies announced new advertising policies to combat childhood obesity, there have been no significant changes in television food advertisements that children view. Not only were unhealthy foods the most frequently advertised, but child-targeted commercials continued to employ the very production techniques and persuasive appeals that make it difficult for children to critically evaluate advertising.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070525205437.htm

Pediatricians slow to treat childhood obesity
Los Angeles Times. Study finds that pediatricians are failing in large numbers to take Step 1 in the manual of fat prevention — calculating a child’s body mass index, or BMI. In a survey of 400 patients’ charts at an academic medical center, researchers found that pediatricians had calculated BMI for roughly 1 in 20 children ages 5 to 11
http://healthy-america.org.cnchost.com/cms/page.php?page=503

TV Food Advertisements and Childhood Obesity
Ivanhoe Newswire: Researchers monitored 59 children as they watched food or toy television advertisements, which were then followed by a cartoon. Researchers then gave them food and found obese children ate 134 percent more, overweight children ate 101 percent more, and normal weight children ate 84 percent more.
http://www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/8016005.html

Parents can’t always tell if their kids are overweight
CR survey finds” Many parents have trouble telling if their children are overweight, according to a Consumer Reports June phone survey that polled 609 parents of children ages 5 to 17. Only 4 percent of survey respondents described their children as being 20 percent or more above their ideal weight or obese. But Consumer Reports found that 19 percent of those children fell in that category.
http://www.rwjf.org/programareas/features/digest.jsp?id=6033&pid=113

Adults

Overweight and Obesity: An Overview
Is there a quick answer to the question, "what contributes to overweight and obesity?"
Overall there are a variety of factors that play a role in obesity. This makes it a complex health issue to address. This section will address how behavior, environment, and genetic factors may have an effect in causing people to be overweight and obese.
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/contributing_factors.htm

U.S. Obesity Set to Boom
WebMD Medical News: Three out of four U.S. adults will be either overweight or obese in 2015, and 41% will be obese, a new report predicts.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20070713/us-obesity-set-to-boom

Diets don't work in long term, says survey, The Guardian
Diets are not a good way to lose weight in the long term, according to researchers. They found that, though dieters can lose significant amounts of weight in the first few months, most will return to their starting weight within five years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2053846,00.html

Taunting may affect health of obese youths, Boston Globe.
Study found that overweight and obese children who are subjected to verbal taunts and physical bullying are substantially more prone during childhood to suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, and high blood pressure than their peers.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2007/07/11/
taunting_may_affect_health_of_obese_youths/

Physicians: Obesity Is America's Most Severe Health Issue,
Individuals And Food Industry Responsible, PR Newswire, A nationwide survey exposed that physicians -- often the "front line" of health -- consider obesity to be the single largest public health crisis in the United States, and that there are varying opinions as to who is primarily responsible and what can be done to address the issue.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/914200/physicians_believe_obesity_is_americas_most_
severe_health_issue/index.html?source=r_health

New Obesity Survey: Many Americans Think They're 'Lighter' Than They Are,
Most NOT Being Told by a Doctor They Need to Lose Weight”, PR Newswire
New survey found a startling disconnect between the way people perceive their weight, and their actual weight category. U.S. adults were much more likely to refer to themselves as "overweight" rather than "obese", and consistently identified themselves as being in less severely overweight groups.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/74949.php

Obesity treatment and prevention

“Health: Can Exercise Make You Smarter?”, Newsweek
On the whole, the kids with the fittest bodies were the ones with the fittest brains, even when factors such as socioeconomic status were taken into account.
http://www.nhne.org/news/NewsArticlesArchive/tabid/400/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2829/Important-Can-Exercise-Make-You-Smarter.aspx

Pedometers Helped Increase Physical Activity, Lose Weight And Reduce Blood Pressure
A new US study found that using a pedometer, an inexpensive pocket sized device that counts the number of steps a person takes in a day, helped normally inactive people become more physically active, lose weight and reduce blood pressure.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/89431.php

The War on Obesity - It is Easier to Stay Fit than it is to Lose Weight - So Start Young
With both the ACSM and the American Heart Association recommending that healthy adults participate in at least 30 minutes of physical activity five days per week at a moderate intensity or 20 minutes per week three days per week at a vigorous intensity. People who want to lose weight may need to exercise as much as 60 to 90 minutes per day to see results.
http://www.fitcommerce.com/Blueprint/The-War-on-Obesity---It-is-Easier-to-Stay-Fit-than-it-is-to-Lose-Weight---So-Start-Young_page.aspx?pageId=276&announcementId=1231&portalId=2&cid=631

Obesity Surgery Can be Fatal
The chances of dying within a year after obesity surgery are much higher than previously thought, even among people in their 30s and 40s, a study of more than 16 000 patients found…among 35- to 44-year-olds in a US Medicare study, more than 5 percent of men and nearly 3 percent of women were dead within a year, and slightly higher rates were seen in patients 45 to 54. Among patients 65 to 74, nearly 13 percent of men and about 6 percent of women died. In patients 75 and older, half of the men and 40 percent of the women died.
http://health.mweb.co.za/dietnfood/Weight_Centre/15-51-2992-3081,33571.asp