Filed under: Fitness, Food and Nutrition, General Health, Healthy Kids
Imagine being told your child is at risk for type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, liver failure, sleep apnea, and a shortened life span. Imagine this blow getting worse as you learn that nearly every organ in your child's body is under stress, compromised by something plaguing about 25 million children in the United States: Obesity.
Experts have long known that hauling around extra weight takes a huge toll on a child's health. How profound this toll is gets clearer by the day. Consider these devastating facts:
- Childhood obesity can decrease life expectancy by two to five years.
- One in three obese children have excess fat in their liver, which can lead to hepatitis, cirrhosis, or liver failure.
- Obesity affects every organ system in a child's body in a much more serious way than obesity affects adults because kids are still growing and developing.
While the
American Heart Association is at work trying to get better physical education and more nutritious foods in school, parents are the most important piece in the childhood obesity puzzle. It's critical they help their kids make wise dietary choices so they can live long, productive, and healthy lives.
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