Childhood Obesity Initiative Is Same Old Story: Looks Good on Paper, But Kids Keep Getting Fatter

Saturday, February 21, 2009 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: childhood obesity, health news, Natural News

In an announcement that's picking up considerable press, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (which includes the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation) has announced it's doing something to prevent kids from getting fatter. They're calling for kids to visit dieticians, many of whom are so utterly ignorant of nutrition that they still don't believe raw foods are nutritionally different from cooked foods. (Remarkably, they still don't teach this stuff to dieticians...)

If these grandstanding initiatives sound familiar, it's because the same organizations announced a big initiative a few years ago to remove soft drinks from public schools. Guess what? The soft drinks are still there, and the kids are still fat. And that's why they need this new announcement, of course, which will make no difference either.

Do you really want to stop childhood obesity? Sign my Health Revolution Petition at www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org and dare to call for REAL, revolutionary changes in health care that will end the sick care system and restore real health to children and adults alike!

And get those kids off high-fructose corn syrup, pushed by the Corn Refiners Association.

Sources for this story:

• Health Buzz: Curbing Childhood Obesity and Other Health News
- US News & World Report

• Initiative Takes Aim At Obesity In Children
- Washington Post

Authors' Quotes on Children and Obesity

Below, you'll find selected quotes from noted authors on the subject of Children and Obesity. Feel free to quote these in your own work provided you give proper credit to both the original author quoted here and this NaturalNews page.

Consider our children, who are spending more time with computers, television and video games, and less time at physical play. From 1960 to 2000, obesity among U.S. Children aged six to ten years increased 54 percent. Parents, do not kid yourselves: Few children outgrow weight problems. Eighty percent of obese children and adolescents become obese adults. These high obesity levels in children already are contributing to widespread diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. These conditions frequently are associated with obesity and used to be rare in children.
- Never Be Sick Again: Health is a Choice, Learn How to Choose It by Raymond Francis
- Available on Amazon.com

The obesity epidemic tracks the 4-A epidemics, as well as the diabetes epidemic, and is closely related to them. One link among all of these disorders is the presence of inflammation, which is now regarded as a significant trigger of obesity. Obesity has doubled among children and adolescents during the past twenty years. Now, an estimated 20 percent of all American children are obese or overweight.
- Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders by Kenneth Bock
- Available on Amazon.com

Overall, most recent estimates suggest that 17% of U.S. Children and adolescents are overweight, and an additional 17% have a BMI between the 85th and 95th percentiles, indicating risk of overweight. The high prevalence of obesity among children is of particular concern given that childhood-onset obesity often tracks with adult obesity. The alarming increase in the prevalence of obesity during the past few decades has raised concerns about associated health risks for children, adolescents, and adults.
- Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease by Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
- Available on Amazon.com

Obesity in children is a problem of major significance. Rates are growing around the world; the medical, psychological, and social consequences are harsh; and the primary causes, poor diet and declining activity, are themselves growing worse. Obesity in children has increased two- to threefold in the United States in the last twenty-five years. The increase in minority groups is double that in white children. The prevalence of overweight children during the period 1988?994 was 10.5 percent for ages twelve through nineteen, 11.3 percent for ages six through eleven.
- Food Fight by Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen
- Available on Amazon.com

Of the children with type 2 diabetes, 74 percent were black and 24 percent white. In contrast, 18 percent of the type 1 children were black and 82 percent white, a statistical makeup not unlike the demographics of Arkansas's population. The finding startled researchers because type 2 diabetes usually develops in people over thirty, and previously was considered rare in children. Type 2 diabetes is associated typically with obesity, and the latest figures show obesity in children and teens has increased dramatically in recent years.
- The Diabetes Cure : A Natural Plan That Can Slow, Stop, Even Cure Type 2 Diabetes by Dr. Vern Cherewatenko and Paul Perry
- Available on Amazon.com

The increase of soda consumption by children under five is a significant event. In my opinion this has a direct relationship to increased occurrence of obesity and asthma in children. Occurrence of asthma in children tripled between 1980 and 1994, and obesity in children has now become a national crisis -- another impact of excessive soda consumption in this sector of society. Caffeine, one of the main components of most sodas, is a drug. It has addictive properties because of its direct action on the brain. It also acts on the kidneys and causes increased urine production.
- Obesity Cancer & Depression: Their Common Cause & Natural Cure by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj
- Available on Amazon.com

The rate of obesity among our children alone has tripled in the last two decades, the same two decades in which soda consumption among children has tripled for boys and doubled for girls. According to a study recently cited in the Lancet Journal, drinking one soda or sweetened beverage a day increases the risk for obesity among children by 60%. In addition, soda consumption puts children at risk for learning and behavioral disorders and Type 2 diabetes.
- If It's Not Food, Don't Eat It! The No-nonsense Guide to an Eating-for-Health Lifestyle by Kelly Harford, M.C., C.N.C.
- Available on Amazon.com

Harvard research has shown that a vegetarian diet also reduces colds and allergies. Children especially benefit greatly from meat abstinence. Studies show that vegetarian children have better teeth and are afflicted with fewer children's diseases than non-vegetarian children. They are also less prone to obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. According to Harvard nutritionist Jean Mayer, we would have enough food for the entire developing world if we ate half as much meat.
- Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You by Andreas Moritz
- Available on Amazon.com