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Understanding
Childhood Obesity
An Epidemic of Excess
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About 32% of children and teens in the U.S. is overweight or obese.
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Over the past three decades, the prevalence of obesity in children
ages 6-11 has increased from about 4% to 20%.
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Overweight kids have a 70-80% chance of staying overweight their
entire lives.
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Obese and overweight adults now outnumber those at a
healthy weight; over 67% of U.S. adults are
overweight or obese.
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Childhood obesity is now the No. 1 health concern
among parents, topping drug abuse and smoking.
What does it mean to be
obese or overweight?
Children and teens whose BMI-for-age is:
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In the 95th percentile or higher are
considered obese.
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Between the 85th and less than the 95th
percentile are considered overweight.
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Between the 5th and less than the 85th
percentile are considered normal weight.
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Below the 5th percentile are considered
underweight.
NOTE: BMI is calculated differently in children and adults.
Causes of Obesity
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Poor Nutrition
Bigger Portions
Dining Out More
Lack of Physical Activity
Increases in “ Sedentary Screen Time”
Parents’ Perceptions and Roles
Lack of Sleep
Situation in Schools
Barriers in Healthcare Settings
Marketing of Unhealthy Foods to Kids
Causes of Obesity –
Poor Choices
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Eating habits have led us to a modern day “malnutrition.”
Americans are eating more and more foods that are high in
calories but don’t meet their nutritional needs.
About 80% of Americans have a poor healthy diet score.
This negatively affects cardiovascular health.
Many Americans are consuming more than the
recommended amounts of the “bad fats” (saturated and
trans fats).
We’re not getting enough vitamins and nutrients through
healthy foods.
Soft drink consumption alone currently accounts for onethird of added sugar intake in the United States.
Most Americans consume more than double the amount of
their daily recommended level of sodium, which increases
risk of higher blood pressure.
Causes of Obesity –
Bigger Portions
Americans are eating more.
• Portions have grown dramatically.
• People eat more when served bigger portions.
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Portion Size vs. Serving Size
Portion size is the amount of a single food item served in a
single eating occasion, such as a meal or a snack. For
example, bagels or muffins are often sold in sizes that
constitute at least two servings, but consumers often eat the
whole thing, thinking that they have eaten one serving.
Causes of Obesity –
Dining Out More
• Americans eat out more than ever before.
• The more people eat out, particularly at fastfood restaurants, the more calories, fat and
sodium they tend to consume.
• Meals away from home contain fewer fruits,
vegetables and whole grains.
Causes of Obesity –
Lack of Physical Activity
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Adults and children are not getting enough physical
activity – almost 1 in 4 children do not participate in
free-time physical activity.
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Among adolescents ages 9-12, almost 30% of girls and
17% of boys reported that they had not engaged in 60
minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity in the
past 7 days.
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33% of adults reported engaging in no leisure time
aerobic physical activity
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Fitness and physical activity habits established in
childhood are key indicators for health in adulthood.
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Kids who are physically fit are much less likely to be
obese or have high blood pressure in their 20s and
early 30s.
Causes of Obesity –
Increases in “Screen Time” &
Marketing Unhealthy Foods to
Kids
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Screen time directly contributes to cardiovascular risk.
Most children get more than the recommended limit of 2
hours of screen time per day.
Most ads targeted at children are for unhealthy products;
almost no advertising dollars are spent marketing healthy
products to children.
Young people see more than 40,000 advertisements per
year on television alone, and half (50 percent) of all ad
time on children’s television shows is for food - Children
ages 8–12 see over 50 hours of food advertising a year.
Causes of Obesity –
Parents’ Perceptions and Roles
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Parents are important role models for their children.
Parents may not recognize when children have a weight problem.
Parents play a critical role in the lifestyle habits of their children both through
the habits they model and through the support and awareness they offer.
Causes of Obesity –
Lack of Sleep
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Children need at least 9 hours of sleep per night.
Sleep plays an important role in the body’s ability to grow,
repair and stay well.
Only 31% of high school students get eight or more
hours of sleep on an average school night.
Causes of Obesity –
School and Healthcare Settings
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61% of competitive foods offered in high schools were fried and high in fat.
These calorie-dense, nutrition-poor foods accounted for 83% percent of all food
sold.
Only 3.8% of elementary, 7.9% of middle and 2.1% of high schools provide
daily physical education during the entire school-year.
Normal weight children have higher scholastic achievement,
less absenteeism and higher physical fitness levels than their
obese counterparts.
Healthcare providers are not consistently diagnosing
weight problems in children.
Healthcare providers may not feel equipped to talk about
nutrition and physical activity with patients.
Consequences of Obesity
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Obesity negatively impacts EVERY organ system in the body.
Obesity is now regarded as more damaging to the body than smoking or
excessive drinking.1
Some studies have shown that some obese teens with high triglyceride
levels have arteries similar to 45-year-olds.
Being overweight can negatively impact a child’s self esteem, behavior,
friendships and academic performance.
Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight adults.
This increases to 80% if 1 parent is overweight or obese.
• Children ages 7-13 who are overweight are at an
increased risk for developing heart disease beginning at
age 25.
• Obesity is more expensive to the healthcare system than
smoking and problem drinking; the cost of treating obesityrelated illnesses nearly doubled in the past decade.
• Over 10% of adult medical expenditures can be attributed
to obesity.
• The total excess cost of adolescent overweight and
obesity is an estimated $254 billion.
1Colditz
GA. Economic costs of obesity and inactivity. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1999;31:S663–S667.
Out of Balance: Disparities
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Prevalence of obesity is rising fastest among African-American and Hispanic
populations, making these groups especially at risk.
Low-income families have a greater prevalence of overweight in some
populations.
Higher cost produce and other nutritious foods is cited as one barrier to
healthy eating for low-income families.
The highest regional prevalence of
obesity is consistently in the South.
Access to parks is a key factor that
many impact physical activity levels;
children who live near parks and
green spaces are more physically
active.
Minority neighborhoods tend to have
½ as many supermarkets as white
neighborhoods.
Obesity can be stopped. And it doesn’t take high-tech treatments or
cutting-edge medications. Really, the solution begins and ends with the
simple choices we make every day.
The AHA is committed to fighting childhood obesity and has
established an aggressive health impact goal for the year 2020: to
improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20%
while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and
stroke by 20% by the year 2020.
Find out how you can help your family live a stronger,
healthier life at heart.org/healthierkids.