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Overweight and Obesity-Related Health Problems in Children and Teens
Overweight and obesity also increase the health risks for children and teens. Type 2 diabetes was once rare in American children, but an increasing number of children are developing the disease.
Also, overweight children are more likely to become overweight or obese as adults, with the same disease risks.
Facts about Obesity in the USA
1. Fact: Obesity rates are soaring in the US.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 36.9% of American adults age 20 and older were obese based on 2015-2016 data. 37.9% of men and 41.1% of women are considered to be obese in the United States
2. Fact: Obesity is already harming young people
Type 2 diabetes, once believed to affect only adults – is now being diagnosed among young people.
In some communities, almost half of the pediatric diabetes cases are type 2, when in the past, the total was close to zero. Although childhood-onset Type 2 diabetes is still a rare condition, overweight children with this disease are at risk of suffering the severe complications of diabetes as adults, such as kidney disease, blindness, and amputations.
Sixty-one percent of overweight 5- to 10-year-olds already have at least one risk factor for heart disease, and 26% have two or more risk factors.
3. Fact: Most people still do not practice healthy behaviors that can prevent obesity.
The primary behaviors causing the obesity epidemic are well-known and preventable: physical inactivity and an unhealthy diet, and it is treatable.
