Childhood Obesity Case Study

When Terry Malin's first baby, Ashley was delivered eight years ago, the hospital weighed her at eight pounds, eight ounces. She had a boundless appetite. As a toddler she'd pop cheese slices straight from the fridge. She loved the burgers and pizza her mom, an office manager in St. Louis brought home on nights when she felt too tired to cook. By age two, Ashley fit into clothes designed for a 4-year-old. Malin was concerned, even though several of the pediatricians in the medical group where she was being helped shrugged her off. When Ashley turned four, a new doctor in the group examined her. He took one look at Ashley--42 inches, 71 pounds--and exclaimed, "This child's obese!" Malin did some research, and she found a local pediatric-obesity clinic at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. There was a six-month waiting list. "Clearly, we weren't the only ones with a problem," she says. Far from it.
We are so far that three hundred
Between 1963 and 2008, rates of obesity among children between the ages of two and nineteen have been inching upwards. From 1963 to 1970, 4.2 percent of six to eleven year olds and 4.6 percent of twelve to nineteen year olds were obese. In 1988, 11.3 percent of six to eleven year olds and 10.5 percent of 12 to 19 year olds were obese. In 2001, just over 16 percent of six to eleven year olds were obese. The last survey, from 2007 to 2008, 19.6 and 18.1 percent of six to eleven and twelve to nineteen year old kids were obese. Between 1971, the first year results were available for two to five year olds, and 2008, young kids went from an obesity rate of 5 percent to 10.4 percent. Which can be in direct correlation to what they’re eating. “Children are consuming more sugar and food than ever, 10% of a children's diet is sugar. Kids aged four to ten have equivalent of 5,500 sugar cubes a year” (Harron