An epidemic of obesity is compromising the lives of millions of black American children, with burgeoning problems that reveal how much more vulnerable young bodies are to the toxic effects of fat.
In ways only beginning to be understood, being overweight at a young age appears to be far more destructive to well-being than adding excess pounds later in life. Virtually every major organ is at risk. The greater damage is probably irreversible.
Doctors are seeing confirmation of this daily: boys and girls in elementary school suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol and painful joint conditions; a soaring incidence of type 2 diabetes, once a rarity in pediatricians' offices; even a spike in child gallstones, also once a singularly adult affliction. African-American youth are most severely affected, because so many are pushing the scales into the most dangerous territory.
With one in two African=Ameircan children in this country overweight or worse, the future health and productivity of an entire generation -- and a nation -- could be in jeopardy.Left: A pound of fat is about the same size as a coffee mug.
"There's a huge burden of disease that we can anticipate from the growing obesity in kids," said William H. Dietz, director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This is a wave that is just moving through the population."
2 comments:
Why is it that finding a salad bar in the ghetto is like searching for the Abominable Snowman in the Sahara?
And why does anorexia get more popular bad press than obesity? Despite being 100X less common?
The number of overweight children is staggering. I pay more attention to folks these days now that I'm getting my own act together in terms of regular exercise. Look at any bus stop or street corner at around 3pm. Damn near every young girl is obese. Literally. Its a shame. It helps keep things in perspective when I'm feeling lazy at the gym or generally considering slacking.
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