The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing today on “Childhood Obesity: The Declining Health of America’s Next Generation.” Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), called the “champion of children” by Sen. Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa), presided over the hearing and said that the childhood obesity epidemic is one of the most urgent threats to American children. Dodd explained that “our children’s generation” may be the fist in the modern era to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. He also said that nearly one out of every three American children are obese or are at risk of becoming obese and children are increasingly being diagnosed with type 2, “adult-onset” diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Dodd said that childhood obesity is a problem that “affects all of us,” and “we’re all going to be paying the bill.” He explained that the obese spend thirty six percent more on health care and seventy seven percent more on medications. According to Dodd, everyone - parents, schools, governments, employers - needs to see the rising childhood obesity rates for what they are: a medical emergency.
Jeffery Levi, the Executive Director for Trust for America’s Health, said that approximately twenty three million children are obese or overweight in the U.S., and rates of obesity have nearly tripled since 1980. He explained that the U.S., as a nation, needs a cultural shift in which healthy environments, physical activity and healthy eating become the norm. Francine Kaufman, a past national president of the American Diabetes Association, said that obesity has reached epidemic proportion in the U.S. Kaufman also said that during the mid-1990s, type 2 diabetes in youth increased ten-fold and mirrored the childhood obesity epidemic. She explained that there is no doubt that obesity in youth, along with its associated medical conditions, is the major health challenge of this century, and more needs to be done to combat it.
Margaret Grey, dean and professor of the Yale School of Nursing, said that this obesity epidemic in youth threatens not only the future of children with chronic diseases and a decreased lifetime, but the epidemic is multi-faceted and will ultimately affect the workforce and thus the economy. Grey explained that obesity and diabetes have physical complications - cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, blindness, and amputations - as well as complications related to quality of life - depression and academic achievement. She also said that this generation of youth cannot survive if Congress continues to pay for the care of their heart attacks, but not for the intensive behavioral care that it will take to reverse the epidemic.
Obesity is everyone’s problem
Dodd said that childhood obesity is a problem that “affects all of us,” and “we’re all going to be paying the bill.” He explained that the obese spend thirty six percent more on health care and seventy seven percent more on medications. According to Dodd, everyone - parents, schools, governments, employers - needs to see the rising childhood obesity rates for what they are: a medical emergency.
Jeffery Levi, the Executive Director for Trust for America’s Health, said that approximately twenty three million children are obese or overweight in the U.S., and rates of obesity have nearly tripled since 1980. He explained that the U.S., as a nation, needs a cultural shift in which healthy environments, physical activity and healthy eating become the norm. Francine Kaufman, a past national president of the American Diabetes Association, said that obesity has reached epidemic proportion in the U.S. Kaufman also said that during the mid-1990s, type 2 diabetes in youth increased ten-fold and mirrored the childhood obesity epidemic. She explained that there is no doubt that obesity in youth, along with its associated medical conditions, is the major health challenge of this century, and more needs to be done to combat it.
Margaret Grey, dean and professor of the Yale School of Nursing, said that this obesity epidemic in youth threatens not only the future of children with chronic diseases and a decreased lifetime, but the epidemic is multi-faceted and will ultimately affect the workforce and thus the economy. Grey explained that obesity and diabetes have physical complications - cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, blindness, and amputations - as well as complications related to quality of life - depression and academic achievement. She also said that this generation of youth cannot survive if Congress continues to pay for the care of their heart attacks, but not for the intensive behavioral care that it will take to reverse the epidemic.