Childhood obesity and visceral fat

Here’s some sad news.

Between the periods of 1988-1994 and 1999-2004 the prevalence of abdominal obesity (higher levels of visceral fat) among children between the ages of 2 and 19 years, increased by over 65%.

This is a real problem because visceral fat has emerged as an important predictor for heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

I think everyone knows that our kids are getting heavier, but researchers can only guess what that will mean to their long-term health. There just isn’t any good data that predicts — with great confidence — the impact of higher weights among kids.

However, there is a large body of evidence that high levels of visceral fat does predict future health problems. This new study should create grave concern

I’ve said it before. We as a society need to get real about addressing the problem of childhood obesity.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of The Straight Scoop About Childhood Obesity