The rate of obesity is greater for children from low-income families and African American and Latino children are at greater risk than other groups. Recent studies have shown that obesity in children has doubled over the past three decades.
The Surgeon General has warned that without change, the rates of preventable disease and death caused by obesity could soon overtake those caused by cigarette smoking. It has been predicted that today’s children will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents because of poor lifestyle habits, marking the first decline in life expectancy in the modern era.