Preventing Childhood Obesity

Children''s health has made tremendous strides over the past century. In general, life expectancy has increased by more than thirty years since 1900 and much of this improvement is due to the reduction of infant and earlychildhood mortality. Given this trajectory toward a healthier childhood, webegin the 21st-century with a shocking development—an epidemic of obesityin children and youth. The increased number of obese childrenthroughout the U.S. during the past 25 years has led policymakers to rankit as one of the most critical public health threats of the 21st-century.

Preventing Childhood Obesity provides a broad-based examination of thenature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S. children and youth,including the social, environmental, medical, and dietary factors responsiblefor its increased prevalence. The book also offers a prevention-orientedaction plan that identifies the most promising array of short-term andlonger-term interventions, as well as recommendations for the roles andresponsibilities of numerous stakeholders in various sectors of society toreduce its future occurrence. Preventing Childhood Obesity explores theunderlying causes of this serious health problem and the actions needed toinitiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that canreverse the trend among our children and youth.