America’s Children

Abstract

The rising tide of overweight and obesity in this nation and indeed around the world is apparent to all. From airlines to clothing manufacturers, industry has responded, either by charging larger customers more money for the space they occupy or by providing more accommodating sizes. Even the “final” industry has acquiesced—Goliath Casket, Inc, of Lynn, Ind, now provides several lines of oversize resting places for people weighing up to 700 lb, for whom conventional caskets are much too small. Of course, the tragedy is that these caskets are holding many who die too young. Obesity has been recognized as a major determinant of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease since 1998,1 but our efforts to stem the tide in the United States have not been successful. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have documented an increasing prevalence of this disorder during the period from 1985 to 2003 via the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System,2 with increasing rates of overweight and obesity documented in successive surveys. Most recently, data from the National Center for Health Statistics National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which uses actual body measurements,3 showed that although US adult men and women are ≈1 in taller than they were in 1960, they are nearly 25 lb heavier on average as well. The average body mass index (BMI) has increased in adults from ≈25 in 1960 to 28 in 2002. Most troublesome were the data in children. A 10-year-old boy in 1963 weighed on average 74.2 lb. In 2002, he weighed nearly 85 lb. Fifteen-year-old boys were ≈15 lb heavier in 2002, and 15-year-old girls were ≈12 pounds heavier. Although children’s heights also increased (except for those of 15-year-old girls), the increase was not proportional; our children are a little taller, but they are much heavier. Finally, …