Children's Health Report Neglects Obesity Epidemic

A report released on Wednesday about the current state of health of American children in 2005 presents a conflicting picture of reality.

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, which is comprised of 20 different government agencies designed to research issues involving children and families, submitted their annual "America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being" report for 2005 and revealed various health indicators led them to believe the health of children in the United States is doing pretty well.

But, unfortunately, there are no warnings in this report about the rising obesity rates in children and only a scant mention of weight issues at all.

In the Health section of the report, it states:

"The proportion of children ages 6–18 who were overweight increased from 6 percent in 1976–1980 to 16 percent in 1999–2002. Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities exist, such that in 1999–2002, Black-alone, non-Hispanic girls and Mexican American boys were at particularly high risk of being overweight (23 percent and 27 percent, respectively)."

That's it! There's nothing in this report about kids overconsuming sugar and getting fatter and fatter by the day. In fact, a recent research study conducted by the University of Missouri-Columbia found that childhood obesity is expected to reach 100 percent by 2044. THIS SHOULD BE A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND THEY'RE JUST IGNORING THE PROBLEM!

With warnings from overseas about the possible causes of childhood obesity, the United States needs to be leading the way on this issue and not standing idly by hoping it will miraculously just go away on its own.

The fact of the matter is that kids are drinking way too much sugary sodas and eating large amounts of candy that are causing them to get fat. In addition, they are not getting enough exercise to burn off all those extra carbs and calories they are consuming on a daily basis.

In looking on the ChildStats.com Contact page, there is not any assigned as the obesity contact under the Health heading. What is wrong with this picture?! Do we even care that our children are growing up to be overweight and obese, will carry that into their adult lives, and quite possibly have their own children someday who will go through the same vicious cycle!

This web site with the children's health report is run jointly by the U.S. Department of Education and The National Center for Education Statistics.

Tell them they need to get serious about children's healthy by educating our kids about healthy eating choices that do not include sugar so that obesity rates will fall and the overall health of children will improve. Also, ask them why the obesity epidemic is being neglected. Let us know if you hear a response.