Abdominal fat in children

This was reported at emaxhealth.com, medscape.com and a number of other medical and news stories:

"Abdominal obesity in childhood increased more than 65 percent among boys and almost 70 percent among girls between 1988 and 2004. The finding of growing girth is significant because abdominal obesity has emerged as a better predictor of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk than the more commonly used Body Mass Index, a weight to height ratio that can sometimes be misleading."

"According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2004, the percentage of 6- to 11 year-old children with high BMI scores rose about 25 percent (15.1 percent in 1999-2000 to 18.8 percent in 2003-04). But the increase in abdominal obesity of the same group over the same period was even more dramatic, more than 35 percent (14.2 percent in 1999-2000 to 19.2 percent in 2003-04)."

Turn off the TV and computer gaming and shoo them out the door.


The research appears in the November 2006, Vol. 118, of the journal Pediatrics. Stephen Cook MD is the author.