Since the 1970s, the share of children in the United States who are obese has tripled, and the share that is over a healthy weight has doubled, from 15 percent thirty years ago to nearly 30 percent today. Weight gain early in life has led to new diseases in children and teens that were seen previously only in adults, like type-II diabetes. Some predict that this generation will be the first to live shorter and less healthy lives than their parents. While this claim is controversial, it is a reminder that the problem of childhood obesity is much more than cosmetic.
Obesity also carries economic costs: one recent estimate states the nation spent between $50 and $78 billion in 1998 on health care related to overweight and obesity in adults. Because overweight and obese adolescents are more likely than their healthy weight peers to become obese as adults, these costs could rise dramatically in coming years as today’s overweight teens become tomorrow’s overweight adults. Losing excess weight is difficult for adults and children, thus preventing obesity in children now is the most effective way of stemming weight-related health consequences and health care costs in the future.
What are the best programs and policies to reduce and prevent childhood obesity? Despite much public attention surrounding the issue, no one is sure how to best combat it.
Children in low-income neighborhoods tend to bear more of these burdens, or bear them to a greater degree, with the result that low-income and minority populations are affected the most by this “epidemic.” Although rates of childhood obesity among the general population are alarmingly high, they are higher still in ethnic minority and low-income communities, with Asian-Americans one notable exception.
While policy makers do not yet agree on the most effective programmatic approaches for combating obesity, school- and community-based programs offer a ray of hope that the environment can change again to a healthy one for children. Many programs are currently in place to stem the weight-gain of America’s children, and range from free for parents to extremely costly.
We would like to thank the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs for sponsoring this exhibit.
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