New England Journal Article Shows Obese Children Twice As Likely To Die Before Age 55
A jarring study published in the New England Journal of Medicine followed 5,000 American Indian children from childhood through middle age and found that those subjects in the study who had been obese as children were more than twice as likely to die before the age of 55.
Although this study was conducted among Pima Indians who have historically had high rates of obesity, in truth, the obesity rates of these test subjects were on par with the current rates of childhood obesity today. For this reason, the study’s findings probably do indeed translate to the wider population. There are some specific factors among the Pima Indians that might make the study less generalizable, but, in my view, these are pretty minor factors, as the study focused on the increased risk that high body mass index brought to these people.
July 12th, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Most parents’ biggest worry is that their child will probably be unhappy – that their child will probably be picked on and unpopular due to the fact she is fat. From a teacher’s perspective I can completely recognize these motives, but these days my concerns about overweight children and childhood obesity are far far more severe than just a little name-calling.