Childhood Obesity Facts

Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.
The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.
In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.
Overweightis defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.Obesityis defined as having excess body fat.
Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.

Smoking and Kids Facts

Each day, more than 3,000 kids in the United States try their first cigarette; and another 700additional kids under 18 years of age become new regular, daily smokers. That’s more than 250,000new underage daily smokers in this country each year.
Smoking can seriously harm kids while they are still young. Aside from the immediate bad breath,irritated eyes and throat and increased heartbeat and blood pressure, short-term harms from youthsmoking include respiratory problems, reduced immune function, increased illness, tooth decay, gumdisease and pre-cancerous gene mutations.
Smoking during youth is also associated with an increased likelihood of using illegal drugs.

Underage drinking risks include:

Death – 5,000 people under age 21 die each year from alcohol-related car crashes, homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning, and other injuries such as falls, burns, and drowning.
Serious injuries – More than 190,000 people under age 21 visited an emergency room for alcohol-related injuries in 2008 alone.
Impaired judgment – Drinking can cause kids to make poor decisions, which can then result in risky behavior like drinking and driving, sexual activity, or violence.
Brain development problems – Research shows that brain development continues well into a person’s twenties. Alcohol can affect this development, and contribute to a range of problems.

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