This week's "briefing" in The Week is about childhood obesity.
Over the last 25 years, the obesity rate has doubled for young children and has tripled for teenagers. As a result, diseases once associated only with adults, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cirrhosis of the liver, are on the rise among children. If the trend in childhood obesity continues, experts predict that over the next few decades, it will cut as much as five years off the average American's life span. "Our kids," said California health official Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, "belong to the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy could well be shorter than that of their parents."
