Disease Proof

Yesterday’s post The Obesity Pandemic explained that obesity is now a worldwide crisis, and according to the AP report the number of overweight and obese people is tremendous:

The World Health Organization says more than 1 billion adults are overweight and 300 million of them are obese, putting them at much higher risk of diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer.

The health complications of obesity are real. In last week’s post The Obesity-Disease Connection we learned the health risks associated with obesity aren’t limited to these five. From Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live:

Health Complications of Obesity

• Increased overall premature mortality
• Adult onset diabetes
• Hypertension
• Degenerative arthritis
• Coronary artery disease
• Cancer
• Lipid disorders
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Gallstones
• Fatty infiltration of the liver
• Restrictive lung disease
• Gastrointestinal disease

People’s worries about obesity are especially strong when it involves children. Given kids’ impressionable minds, many people are calling for measures to protect kids from obesity-promoting junk-food. Malcolm Burgess of the AFP reports:

The WHO says more than a billion people -- nearly one in six of the world's population -- are overweight, outnumbering the 800 million who are under-nourished.


The promotion of energy-dense foods such as confectionery and soft drinks in advertising was pushing children towards unhealthy diets, Hastings said.

Within the European Union, 5 million children were obese and 25,000 had type two diabetes, said the taskforce, which is the advocacy arm of the International Association for the Study of Obesity.

Australian academic Professor Boyd Swinburn said the group's draft guidelines sought to combat the problem from a child-protection perspective, using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"At the moment, the need to protect children from commercial exploitation is being largely overlooked by the food and advertising industries," he said.

According to Dr. Fuhrman many people don’t realize the stuff they’re feeding their kids spells disease down the road. More from Eat to Live:

Most Americans are not aware that the diet they feed their children guarantees a high cancer probability down the road.1 They don’t even contemplate that eating fast-food meals may be just as risky (or more so) than letting their children smoke cigarettes.2


You wouldn’t let your children sit around the table smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, because it is not socially acceptable, but it is fine to let them consume cola, fries cooked in trans fat, and a cheeseburger regularly. Many children consume doughnuts, cookies, cupcakes, and candy on a daily basis. It is difficult for parents to understand the insidious, slow destruction of their child’s genetic potential and the foundation for serious illness that is being built by the consumption of these foods.

It would be unrealistic to feel optimistic about the health and well-being of the next generation when there is an unprecedented increase in the average weight of children in this country and record levels of childhood obesity. Most ominous were the results reported by the 1992 Bogalusa Heart Study, which studied autopsies performed on children killed in accidental deaths. The study confirmed the existence of fatty plaques and streaks (the beginning of atherosclerosis) in most children and teenagers!3 These researchers concluded: “The results emphasize the need for preventive cardiology in early life.” I guess “preventive cardiology” is a convoluted term that means eating healthfully.

1. Stoll, B.A. 1998. Western diet, early puberty and breast cancer risk. Breast Cancer Res. Treat. 49 (3): 187-93.

2. Horinger, P., and R. Imoberdorf. 2000. Junk food revolution or the cola colonization. Ther. Umsch. 57 (3): 134-37.

3. Berenson, G.S., W.A. Wattigney, R.E. Tracey, et al. 1992. Atherosclerosis of the aorta and coronary arteries and cardiovascular risk factors in persons aged 6 to 30 years and studied at necropsy (the Bogalusa heart study). Am. J. Cardiol. 70:851-58.