It doesn't take much in these dark times for folk to find cause to celebrate. Todays 'hell, it could be worse' story is about childhood obesity. Word is that the number of obese US kids has remained constant since 1999.
To quote from the New York Times article:
“It may be that we’ve reached some sort of saturation in terms of the proportion of the population who are genetically susceptible to obesity in this environment,” Dr. Ogden said. “A more optimistic view is that some things are working. We don’t really know.”
Amidst all this, we learn that "While about 14.5 percent of white adolescent girls were obese, the numbers jumped to 20 percent for Mexican-American teenage girls and 28 percent for black teenage girls."
I wonder how much genetics can account for the disparity, and how much poor food choices are to do, ultimately with being poor. Consider, for instance, that, according to one source, the poverty rate for blacks in 1998 was 26.1 percent, the rate for Hispanics was 25.6 percent, and for non-Hispanic whites it was 8.2 percent.
That we've reached a saturation point is, ultimately, no reason to cheer. And, as one report author notes, "We still lack anything resembling a national strategy to take this problem seriously".
One cheer for the plateau in obesity, then.
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Ch. 9. Geography, Taste, Aesthetics, Obesity, Body Image | obesity | United States
Posted on 29 May, 2008 - 06:21
Thanks for posting on this issue. I did a nine-part series on the topic over at my site. Lots of research and insightful information for parents included.
I also just posted a book review of Stuffed and Starved over at Eat. Drink. Better. Great book. Thanks.
And, thanks again for following up with me after that insane World Have Your Say call!
This site 
Raj Patel.
Join the Facebook group.
"Ultimately no reason to cheer" is so true!
The plateau won't last for long when a movie that puts an obese panda bear with a eating disorder through kung fu boot camp then encourages a trip to McD's for the Happy Meal Toys.
Panda Thumbs Down: a kiddie animation that markets “a get-fit and save-the-day boot camp plot” to well-meaning parents wobbles short of the mark.
With childhood obesity rates showing that every fourth child in a movie theater seat amply fills the space near you, I’m not sure now is the time for a hero who saves the day by not only being fat, but being rewarded repeatedly for it.
That’s “Kung Fu Panda” in a coconut shell: a movie geared towards the fattest, laziest youth to have ever lived on earth.
It’s a China-set, animated action/comedy with self-deprecating, pudgy panda Jack Black as the voice of Po, a rotund restaurant worker whom the village elders improbably designate as the warrior chosen to defend their homes against the prophesied return of a fearsome fighter.
To add layer to the cake, Po heads off to a kung-fu temple for special training under a Yoda-like mentor voiced by Dustin Hoffman named Shafi. However, the lumbering joke that won’t offend many in the audience is that clumsy, hungry Po can’t stop eating or goofing around long enough to complete his training.
Po wins support through the sheer force of his likeable personality (and his secret noodle soup), and his kung fu improves when Shifu — discovering him binging in the kitchen — realizes that Po will do anything for a cookie.
A hero whose power is an admixture of sloth and gluttony?
Nearly missed this part, because I was dallying out in the lobby refilling my super-sized soda and getting extra butter ladled on the kernals of corn so I’ll refrain from any further comment. Anyway, Po does declare (after his mastery dumpling chasing training) that he’s no longer hungry and uses that extra-body-surface-area to effectively vanquish his foe.
The concluding message: nope not the danger of type II diabetes or the redeeming benefits of a healthy heart fitness program. It’s that one’s fat liability can transform into one’s fattest ass-et.
Though you can bet Kung Fu Panda will be enjoying that Happy Meal (with the Panda surprise) sans his new-found Furious Five friends. They’ll be back in the gym training...plateau or no plateau