Childhood obesity is a critical public health problem in the United States. Over the past three decades, obesity rates have soared among all age groups, increasing more than four times among children ages 6 to 11. Today, more than 23 million children and teenagers are overweight or obese. That’s nearly one in three young people. Even among ages 2 to 5, a quarter of children are now overweight or obese. Among certain racial and ethnic groups, the rates are still higher.

The ramifications are alarming: If we don’t succeed in reversing this epidemic, we are in danger of raising the first generation of American children who will live sicker and die younger than their parents’ generation.

Preventing obesity during childhood is critical because habits formed during youth frequently continue well into adulthood:

• Research shows that obese adolescents have up to an 80 percent chance of becoming obese adults. Overweight and obese children are at higher risk for a host of serious, often life-threatening illnesses, including heart disease and stroke, diabetes, asthma and certain types of cancer.
• Increasing numbers of children are being diagnosed with health problems once considered to be adult ailments, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and gallstones.
• Obesity poses a tremendous financial threat to our economy and our health care system. It’s estimated that the obesity epidemic costs our nation $117 billion annually in direct medical expenses and indirect costs, including lost productivity. Childhood obesity alone carries a huge price tag—up to $14 billion annually in direct medical expenses.

How did we get to this point? There’s a simple explanation for the childhood obesity epidemic: Our children are consuming far more calories than they burn. Today’s obese teenagers consume between 700 and 1,000 more calories a day than what’s needed for the growth, physical activity and body function of a normal-weight teen. Over the course of 10 years, that “energy gap” is enough to pack an average of 58 extra pounds on an obese adolescent.

As a society, we’ve dramatically altered the way we live, eat, work and play—creating an environment that fuels obesity:

• On average, today’s young people spend more than four hours per day using electronic media, including television, DVDs and video games.
• A generation ago, about half of all school-age children walked or biked to school. Today, nearly nine out of 10 are driven to school. And once they get there, there aren’t many opportunities for exercise. Fewer than 4 percent of elementary schools provide daily physical education.
• At the same time, children are eating more unhealthy foods in ever-larger sizes. In recent decades, the typical calorie content of menu items like french fries and sodas has increased approximately 50 percent. Children consume these high-calorie, low-nutrient foods, snacks and beverages not only in restaurants but in their homes and schools.
• In communities hardest hit by obesity, families frequently have little access to affordable healthy foods.  There often are no grocery stores, only convenience marts that rarely stock fresh fruits or vegetables. There aren’t enough safe places for children to play or programs to help them be physically active every day. To reverse the childhood obesity epidemic, we must remove these barriers by creating policies and environments that provide families with greater access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity.

RWJF is committed to reversing the epidemic by 2015.