What are the biggest threats to America’s children? While there’s a long list to choose from, you’ll often hear people mention firearms, failing schools, and Facebook (as well as other social media tools). The biggest long-term threat to the health and well-being of American children, however, may be something else altogether: food. More specifically, the highly processed, sugar-laden concoctions that, along with sugar-sweetened beverages, have become fixtures in the diets of American adolescents.
The result is a sad – and shocking – fact: nearly one in five American children under the age of 19 are obese, according to the CDC, meaning they have a body mass index of 30 or higher (25 or above is considered overweight). For example, a 12-year-old boy who is 5’5” and weighs 185 pounds has a BMI of 30.8. (BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of height in meters – a BMI calculator can be found here.)
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