Originally published September 22 2005
Study shows hike in child obesity rate in California
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to a recent study, approximately 28 percent of children in California are overweight; a six percent increase since 2001.
Statewide, 28% of children are overweight, a 6% increase since 2001, according to the study by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, a nonprofit organization in Davis.
The report, based on public school fitness test scores for fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders, is the first to look at the percentage of overweight children in specific communities.
"We see regions with more than one-third of kids overweight.
Experts say that whether a community's children tend to be fat or fit depends on demographics and socioeconomics.
Los Angeles is designed for cars, and it doesn't help that schools often don't have physical education anymore.
Francine R. Kaufman, director of the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said the diabetes program there is overflowing and can't meet the needs of the numbers of children referred to it.
"We are seeing kids who are morbidly obese," Kaufman said.
"These kids have apnea when they go to sleep at night; they have to go on breathing devices just like adults.
The growing levels of overweight children "reflect conditions in schools and communities that encourage children to eat and drink unhealthy foods and beverages and that limit their physical activity," the study asserted.
Children and parents are enticed by supermarket displays, the convenience of fast food and mouth-watering television ads proffering fatty, sugary goodies.
"We're looking at what could be an unending cycle of morbidity and disease," Kaufman said.
Rafael, 55, said the family was stunned when oldest son Rafael, 14, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which is tied to being overweight.
After doctors expressed concern about 8-year-old Sergio's weight and referred the family to the Childrens Hospital program, they got serious about improving their health.
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