Reports from numerous fields depict an alarming situation: the rise in obesity puts our children at serious risk of contracting life-threatening diseases that were previously associated only with older age, such as type-2 diabetes or hepatic steatosis.

A 2009 study shows that Obesity has overtaken cigarette-smoking as the leading cause of preventable deaths in the US.

• Employers lose an estimated 20 work-days a year for each obese employee.
• General Motors (GM) pays an estimated $1,500 per car produced, in health-care coverage costs to employees and retirees. This is more than what they pay for steel.
• In 2000, the total cost of obesity in the US was estimated as $117 billion, with $61 billion towards medical costs.

• In 2006, $147 billion was spent on obesity-related medical care.
• More than 25% of the rise in medical costs, between 1987 and 2001, is attributable to obesity.
• US health-care costs in 2007 ($2.2 trillion) was over 3x higher than in 1990 (3x higher in 17 years), and more than 8x higher than in 1980 (8x higher in 27 years). This spending accounted for 16.2% of the nation's GDP.
• Obesity-related and overweight-related diseases cause more than 100,000 preventable deaths each year.

Ethnic-specific studies suggest that overweight and obesity may afflict up to 30-40% of children and youth from minority populations. The 2006 study found the following prevalences for obesity:

Hispanics

25.8%

Blacks

16.2%

Whites

14.8%

By as early as age 3, Latino children in the US are more likely to be obese than Black or White children.