A study by the New England Medical Center
is blowing the whistle on kids.
Kids are getting fatter, especially
white kids, but the black kids are
catching up.
According to the study, in the last 20
years, there's been a 56 percent increase
in the number of obese kids aged six
to 11 and a 39 percent
increase in obesity in kids aged 12 to
17.
Researchers say the lack of exercise
is a major contributor to the problem.
I'm not sure the problem is here at
school, you know, with their fitness.
I believe that when they
leave here, they go home and
they're very inactive.
Television is a culprit.
The incidence of obesity among
adolescents increases by two percent
for each hour that they spend in front
of the television set each day.
Junk food also contributes to the
problem. Fourteen year old Steven Dale
says he eats junk food every
day, almost every minute, you know, like
candy bars, Eminem's
potato chips, ice cream.
Other test findings show that the fattest
kids in the United States live in the
northeast, the thinnest in the West,
and that poor children are thinner than
middle class kids.
But the gap is narrowing.
Mary Anne Connor, Channel 5 News.