More Kids Now Extremely Obese

Report authors warn of shorter life spans, impending health problems for these children

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

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THURSDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- The obesity epidemic is hitting children harder than ever, with 7.3 percent of boys and 5.5 percent of girls classified as extremely obese in a California study, researchers from Kaiser Permanente report.

The news is even worse for black and Hispanic kids: Among black teenage girls, 11.9 percent were classified as extremely obese, as were 11.2 percent of Hispanic teenage boys. Extreme obesity among children is defined as weighing more than 1.2 times the 95th percentile, or having a body-mass index (BMI) of 35 kilograms per meter squared.

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"There is an alarming high frequency of extremely obese children," said study author Corinna Koebnick, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research and Evaluation in Pasadena.

Koebnick said the obesity epidemic is driven by a combination of lack of physical activity and poor eating habits. "It's unhealthy eating habits -- fast food versus slow food," she said.

Parents need to be role models for their children, Koebnick stressed. "There are studies suggesting parent's weight has a significant influence on the child's weight," she noted.

Extreme obesity can lead to serious health problems such as diabetes and heart disease, Koebnick added.

"We need to watch these extremely obese kids more carefully, and we need to try to prevent adverse health effects that may come up in the near future," she said.

"Children who are extremely obese may continue to be extremely obese as adults, and all the health problems associated with obesity are in these children's futures. Without major lifestyle changes, these kids face a 10 to 20 years shorter life span and will develop health problems in their 20s that we typically see in 40- [to] 60-year-olds," Koebnick said in a Kaiser Permanente news release.

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