Overweight kids likely to be fat adults - Adolescent Obesity - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Dec, 2003

More than 2,000,000 adolescents become obese and 1,500,000 remain so as they grow into adulthood, concludes a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study. "This research highlights the critical nature of the adolescent and young adult period for developing and continuing obesity," warns Penny Gordon-Larsen, assistant professor of nutrition at the Schools of Public Health and Medicine and a fellow at the Carolina Population Center. "During that transitional period, the proportion of adolescents becoming and remaining obese is particularly high. Preventive and treatment efforts are [vitally] needed.

"Our key findings include the large incidence of obesity, particularly among black and Hispanic females. As most people know by now, obesity is a huge problem for all groups of adolescents, but particularly among minority populations. Among the health problems it creates or makes worse are diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure."

Changing the U.S. culture and environment to make diets healthier, as well as increasing exercise and improving lifestyle choices for Americans of all ages, but particularly those at highest risk--minority populations that are underserved in health care--should become a national priority, Gordon-Larsen insists.