The Threat From Within

This may be the first generation in which children live a shorter life span than their parents. If this were caused by a new virus or pathogen, or if some madman was harming our children, there would be a call to action from most parents, an uprising and an uproar. But it's not some external germ or sinister force that's eating our young; it's what our young are eating-too m—ch fat, salt and sugar. And it's not only what they're doing, but also what they're not doing-a lac— of regular exercise.

So many kids in our country are overweight, they're getting sick and dying prematurely. Overweight kids suffer disproportionately from diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and other serious health problems. A study last summer in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that being overweight at 18 is associated with an increased risk of premature death in younger and middle-aged women.

Since 1970, the percentage of kids who are overweight or obese has risen almost fourfold, from 4.2 percent to 15.3 percent. Overweight kids have an estimated 70-80 percent chance of becoming obese adults, and 65 percent of adults are overweight or obese. As Tommy Thompson, the former secretary of Health and Human Services used to say, "We're just too fat."

If you want to see something really scary, download the maps on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site . You can see the obesity epidemic spreading like cancer metastasizing across the country from 1985-2005. It looks like an alien force or a conquering army is taking over the United States, state by state, year by year.

It gets worse. Another study in the Annals of Internal Medicine that followed 4,000 people over 30 years found that 9 out of 10 men and 7 out of 10 women will eventually become overweight. Diabetes in 30-year-olds has risen 70 percent in the past decade. The complications of diabetes include heart disease, impotence and damage to the eyes, nerves and kidneys. Amputations of feet and legs are not uncommon.

According to former surgeon general Richard Carmona, M.D., "As we look to the future and where childhood obesity will be in 20 years ... it is every bit as threatening to us as is the terrorist threat we face today. It is the threat from within."