Weight Loss Issue

Weight loss became an issue for 18.1 percent of adolescents (5 percent in 1980) and childhood obesity increased to 19.6 percent among 6 to 11 years olds (6.5 percent in 1980), according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We are all aware of the obesity epidemic sweeping across the United States where the adult obesity rates jumped in the last decades, but the most disturbing fact is that our children are making up a significant percentage of the obesity problem.

Only the District of Columbia saw adult obesity rates fall, but it increased in 28 states in the past year, according to Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Mississippi is the most obese state in the country for the sixth year in a row with 33.8 percent of the population being weighty. The study also discloses that the majority of childhood obesity cases were from African American parents.

It is interesting and maybe even inspiring that adults earning less than $15,000 annually were also significantly more likely to be obese comparing with those earning more than $50,000. Despite education campaigns about the childhood obesity epidemic there is still so much weight loss advice that contradicts each other. Even if it’s not easy to cut through all this junk and find the real solution, it is clear that this represents a cause that deserves our entire attention. It is well known that obesity is associated with other health problems like high cholesterol, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease.

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