China Worries About Obesity (and Young Love)

Daily dancing requirement targets childhood obesity

(NEWSER) - The childhood obesity epidemic has found its way to China—and will stop there, if the government's new dance requirement has the desired effect. Starting in September, mandatory classes will get millions of schoolchildren off their butts and onto the dance floor. Experts are developing routines for the curriculum, which will gain new moves every two years. More»

Docs worried about obese toddler

(NEWSER) - Super spoiled or the victim of a hormonal abnormality? Doctors are worried about a 3-year-old Chinese boy who weighs in at a massive 132 pounds, more than four times heavier than most kids his age, notes the Sun . His doting parents say the boy throws temper tantrums if he's denied third, even fourth, helpings at meals, and loves to scarf down huge plates of rice and ribs. "We have to let him be because if we don't feed him he will cry nonstop," said his overwhelmed mom. More»

(AP) - A striking new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese. Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at so early an age. Obesity is more common in Hispanic and black youngsters, too, but the disparity is most startling in American Indians, whose rate is almost double that of whites. More»

Scientists warn childhood obesity epidemic may lead to much shorter lifespans

(NEWSER) - Arteries of seriously overweight teenagers are as clogged as those of middle-aged people, according to US News & World Report. Researchers used ultrasound to measure the neck arteries of chubby kids at risk of heart trouble and were alarmed to find that their "vascular age" was an average of three decades higher than their real age. More»

Dangerously chubby children may end up in social service system

(NEWSER) - Local government leaders in Britain warn that they may need to take drastic action to protect the health of dangerously overweight children—including taking them away from their parents, the Independent reports. They predict that a million British children will be clinically obese within four years, and that the social service system may have to take charge of caring for children in the worst cases. More»