Health

One-tenth of preschoolers too hefty

DALLAS - The obesity epidemic is reaching down to the sandbox: More than 10 percent of U.S. children ages 2 to 5 are overweight, the American Heart Association reported Thursday.

That is up from 7 percent in 1994, according to the heart association's annual statistical report on heart disease and stroke.

The 10 percent number comes from 2002, the most recent year for which figures are available, and the situation is probably even worse now, said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, president-elect of the heart association and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado.

"These statistics are not anything but alarming," Eckel said.

The prevalence of obesity among adults is well-known, with an increase of 75 percent since 1991. So is the problem with school-age children, reaffirmed by new statistics showing that nearly 4-million children ages 6 to 11 and 5.3-million young people ages 12 to 19 were overweight or obese in 2002.

But the findings among preschoolers are a strong indication that kids' weight problems are beginning even earlier.

Experts blame the prevalence of junk food marketed to children, too much TV and the decline in the number of families who sit down together to eat.

LONDON - A new study gives scientific clout to a conclusion many already see as obvious: Eating lots of fast food makes you fat and increases the chance of developing diabetes.

A study published in the Lancet medical journal this week found those who frequently ate fast food gained 10 pounds more than those who did so less often, and were more than twice as likely to develop an insulin disorder linked to diabetes. A team followed 3,000 young people in a study of cardiac health over 15 years.

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