The facts
“Over the past 30 years, the U.S. has seen its youth obesity rate triple,” says Dr. Floyd Shewmake, Senior Medical Director at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that approximately 17 percent (or 12.5 million) of children ages 2-19 are obese.

“These figures rise even higher for minority youth, and even approaches 30 percent among some ethnic groups,” Shewmake says.

Childhood obesity can be brought on by a multitude of factors, some environmental and others genetic, but much of the time it tends to come down to lifestyle choices and convenience.

“For one, children aren’t as active as they were many years ago. Specifically, children are spending more time playing video or computer games and watching too much television – all of this inactivity leads to weight gain,” Shewmake says. “Another contributing factor is of course diet – access to fast food and junk food is on every corner, while access to affordable fresh produce and nutritional meals is declining.”

While the idea of letting your kids spend a little extra time in front of the TV or stopping at McDonald’s a couple times a week for a quick bite might not seem like a big deal, these behaviors lead to potentially damaging habits that can have lifelong consequences on children that many people don’t consider.

Shewmake notes that obese children are:

• 70 percent more likely to be obese adults
• Twice as likely to die before age 55
• Have a 52 percent increased risk for asthma
• Increased risk for diabetes as children or later as adults
• Increased risk of heart disease as an adult