Today’s children may live “two to five years less than they otherwise would” if current levels of childhood obesity remain “unchecked”
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that as childhood obesity becomes increasingly prevalent, the current generation of children may “live less healthful and shorter lives than their parents” for the first time in United States history, reports Eloisa Gonzalez, MD, MPH, Director of the Physical Activity Program for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, elgonzalez@ladhs.org. Researchers from the University of Illinois in Chicago contend that if the current levels of childhood obesity remain “unchecked,” obesity-related complications such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease will result in today’s children living “two to five years less than they otherwise would.” The study notes that obesity has increased the “lifetime risk of diabetes among people born in the United States to 30 percent to 40 percent,” and that living with diabetes throughout adulthood decreases an individual’s life span by an average of 13 years. In addition, the researchers note that the risk of heart attack in people with diabetes is as high as those who have “had a previous heart attack.” In an accompanying editorial, a researcher from the University of Pennsylvania, calls the report “excessively gloomy,” as it fails to account for potential advances in medical science and genetic engineering and the overall reduction in the rate of other harmful behaviors such as smoking. The New York Times notes that the study is “likely to stir debate on both scientific and political grounds” because estimating the long-term effects of obesity could possibly “alter the expected cost of medical care and the size of pension payouts” (Olshansky et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 3/17/05 [subscription required]; Preston, New England Journal of Medicine, 3/17/05 [subscription required]; Belluck, New York Times, 3/17/05; Zimmerman, Wall Street Journal, 3/17/05 [subscription required]; Stein, Washington Post, 3/17/05), reports Dr. Gonzalez.
The Center for Law in the Public Interest has published specific recommendations to provide places to play to help children and their families and friends to become physically fit, including the joint use of schools, parks, and playgrounds to make optimal use of scarce land and public resources. Download our four page Policy Brief (204 KB [PDF]), and our longer article Healthy Children, Healthy Communities: Parks, Schools, and Sustainable Regional Planning (584 KB [PDF]), recently published in the Urban Equity Symposium of the Fordham Urban Law Journal.
