Obesity Has Reached Epidemic Proportions

In secular trends, the increase in the body weight of children averaged 5.5 pounds not attributable to gains in height in the decade of the 70s' This body weight increase doubled to 11 pounds in the following decade. For any one child to gain 5 pounds over a year, he/she would only need to consume an additional 48 Calories per day.

The explanation of this increase in body weight has been suggested to be due to greater inactivity such as television watching (2-4 hours per day), decrease in physical education at school, increased use of automobiles and buses for school transportation, and/or the increased frequency of eating out, increased serving sizes, and poor diet quality as a result of skipping breakfast, consuming less than the minimal five servings of fruits and vegetables, increased soft drink beverage consumption, and inconsistent meal patterns. Lacking are studies with a more "behavioral" focus using both cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches. Preliminary evidence presented at the obesity workshop of this annual meeting revealed that a very strong correlation exists over nearly two decades between the increase in consumer expenditure for eating out and the concomitant increase in obesity. Apparently the consumer priority when eating out seeks "value for dollar" and this priority supercedes various healthy eating concerns practiced at home.