This is in response to a post titled: Childhood Obesity posted on June 2nd, 2008 by Web Admin.
https://healthblogs.org/2008/06/02/childhood-obesity/
The post stated that, “A report published in the May 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that the epidemic may have leveled off during the past eight years.” The post’s author suggested that, “It could mean that a certain percentage of the population of US children is simply immune to obesity. That’s one of my extremely non-scientific guesses, and was not suggested by any of the research.”
I think that’s a real possibility. I too have no scientific research to back up my conclusions, but as a parent for nearly 19 years, I have seen many children (some with obese parents) that eat nothing but fast food, packaged food, and foods containing high fructose corn syrup and trans fats…all items that can contribute to weight gain. Some of these kids simply “can’t” get fat. That’s good because 32% is a high enough percentage, but it doesn’t mean that those kids are healthy as excess weight is not the only indicator of good heath.
In terms of obesity statistics, it would be far more exciting news if the levels were dropping rather just leveling off. I agree it’s a start, but we need to continue educating parents, grandparents, teachers, and kids themselves about the dangers of becoming obese. We need to face facts and offer children a real solution to becoming the healthy young person they were born to be.