Health Consequences

For the first time in history, American children could have a shorter life span than their parents…

Obese and Overweight Children are at Risk for Serious Health Problems
• Obesity is associated with more chronic (continuing) medical conditions than smoking or excessive drinking. (Colditz GA, 1999)

• Diabetes on the rise- Type II Diabetes was once called “Adult-onset Diabetes.” Now, what was once thought to be an adult only disease is now affecting a number of overweight and obese children. (Daniels SR, Arnett DK, Eckel RH, 2005)

• If current childhood obesity trends continue, adolescents with type II diabetes may experience heart troubles beginning as young as 30 or 40 years old. (Rand Health, 2004)

• It is estimated that children who are obese have a 70-80% chance of becoming obese adults (Preventing Childhood Obesity: The Need to Create Healthy Places, LA County Public Healthy,October 2007).

Obesity Related Healthcare Costs are Soaring
• Severely overweight people often spend more on healthcare than smokers do. (Rand Health, 2004)

• The direct national costs of treating obesity-related diseases are estimated at $61 billion. (American Heart Association, 2006)

• The indirect national costs of obesity (such as missed work days and future earnings losses) have been estimated at $56 billion dollars per year. (American Heart Association, 2006)

• The number of people filing for disability is rising rapidly, and the fastest growing cause of disability is type II diabetes, which more and more children are suffering from because of obesity. (Rand Health, 2004)

• Treating a child with obesity is three times more costly than treating the average child (Daily Herald, 2008)

The Damaging Effects of Eating Out
• Of the money spent eating out, over half of it is spent on fast food. (Fetto, 2002)

• Over the last thirty years Americans’ spending on fast food has increased from $6 billion[15] to $110 billion - or more than 18-fold. (http://restaurant.org/)

• Kids and Fast Food: The average teen eats fast food twice a week. (Paeratakul S, Ferdinand D, Champagne C, Ryan D, Bray G, 2003)

*Over a 15-year study, adults who ate fast food more than twice a week gained 10 pounds more than those who ate fast food less than once a week. (Pereira MA, Kartashov AL, Ebbeling CB, 2005)

• Adolescents today are eating on average 8% more than they were less than thirty years ago. (Enns CW, Mickle SJ, Goldman JD, 2003)