American children are gaining weight at an alarming rate and the problem is accelerating, particularly among minorities, according to a study from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS). The percentage of black and Hispanic children who are significantly overweight has more than doubled over 12 years, and has climbed 50 percent among white children. Results of the study were published in JAMA (December 12, 2001).

"This study should serve as a wake-up call for parents and those of us concerned about children's health," says pediatric gastroenterologist Richard Strauss, MD, who conducted the study with a colleague at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. "Prior studies show it took 30 years for the overweight prevalence to double in American children."

Strauss, who is director of the Childhood Weight Control Program and associate professor of pediatrics at RWJMS, based the findings on an analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which documented overweight trends in 8,270 children ages 4 to 12 over a 12-year period. Children who weighed 20 to 25 pounds or 50 percent more than their peers of the same age were considered overweight; those whose weight was approximately 25 percent above the average were considered at risk.

What's the reason for the precipitous rise in childhood obesity? "The cause may be as intimate as the family dinner table, or as seductive as television or the latest video game," Strauss says. "High fat meals and snacks in school settings are both a powerful temptation and a clear signal of accepted nutritional norms."

Strauss, who treats a wide range of weight problems, from "chunkiness" or moderate overweight to serious obesity, adds that the current generation of children faces serious chronic health problems as adults if the trend is not reversed.