Childhood obesity on rise in US

An increasing number of kids are obese or overweight in America....
The new report named F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010 reveals that American children are turning obese at an alarming rate but many of the guardians turn a blind eye to this fact, worsening the condition.

Revelations of the report
The study conducted by Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation claims that around 84 percent of the polled parents rated their children as fit, healthy or normal, while that fact was that they were obese.

The majority of those who denied the obese condition of their kids were African American parents.

Obese or overweight parents were up to 50 percent more prone to bear obese children as compared to the fit parents.

Further, the parents who underestimated the weight of their kids too were also more likely to have obese children.

Southern states worst offenders
Southern states of America showed a higher rise in childhood obesity with the highest number of overweight kids all over the nation.

Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Georgia were the most affected states while Oregon had the least number of such cases, the report reveals.

The study further reported that almost 80 percent Americans believed childhood obesity to be a big challenge for the entire country, with 50 percent of Americans believing that childhood obesity is such an important issue that we need to invest more to prevent it immediately.

"Obesity rates among the current generation of young people are unacceptably high and a very serious problem," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., Robert Wood Johnson Foundation president and CEO.

"To reverse this national epidemic, we have to make every community a healthy community. Americans are increasingly ready and willing to make that investment."

The study hints that the physical workout has significantly dipped for the kids. The culture of junk food and a lethargic lifestyle has also marred the physical growth of the children.

Therefore the kids need to be given better diet that includes all the necessary nutrients, the study researchers noted.