Chapter 1. Testing

Introduction

In this activity, you will look at the problem of childhood obesity and explore some of its possible causes as well as some of its remedies. During the activity, you also will view videos in which children who have struggled with obesity describe themselves and their experiences of being overweight.

Sharron Dalton (2004), a professor specializing in food choice behavior and weight management, likes to quote a nurse’s provocative phrase. At a conference on childhood obesity, the nurse said, “It is bigger than all of us.” Sad but true, the problem of childhood obesity has been growing—not only in the United States but also around the world. Looking at U.S. statistics, Robert Cornette notes (2011) that 4% of baby boomers were overweight children, as compared to approximately one third of today’s youth who will be overweight before adulthood.

Prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents, by age group—United States, 1963–2008

Graph retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6002a2.htm?s_cid=mm6002a2_w