Keeping children active — What you can do to fight childhood obesity

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Just when you think that no more can be said about the childhood obesity crisis, along comes another frightening piece of information. We already know that today's children are fatter than they should be; approximately one-third of American children are overweight and one-fifth are obese. We know that overweight and obesity contribute to all manner of diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and even several types of cancer. We've been told that overweight and obesity track from childhood to adulthood (the 'baby fat' does not simply go away), meaning that children who start life overweight and obese already have a major strike against their health.

Now new studies, reported this past fall at an American Heart Association conference, have determined that obese children as young as 10 years old have the arteries of 45-year-olds, as well as other heart abnormalities that increase their risk for heart disease (Marcione, 2008).

Clearly, this trend ...