Diabetes
Although it is almost entirely preventable, type 2 diabetes is one of the
most prevalent and costly chronic diseases in the United States. Without a
change in eating and exercise habits, one in three children born in the year
2000 will develop type 2 diabetes in adulthood. For Hispanic children, one
in two will develop this disease.9
Heart Disease
In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 20
percent of adolescents ages 12-19 have at least one abnormal lipid level: LDL
cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, or triglycerides. Among overweight and obese
adolescents, those rates were even higher, with 22 percent of overweight and
43 percent of obese children having one or more abnormalities.10 Abnormal
lipids are risk factors for heart disease, which is the number one cause of
death in the United States.11