Increasing Tummy Size of American Kids pose threats

U.S researchers revealed that the tummy size of American children and teens have been steadily growing in circumference, posing a higher risk for diabetes and heart problems.

They found out that since 1990s, the belly fat of children and teenagers has increased by 65%, coming in line with rising obesity rates.

It is observed that waist circumference, measured by wrapping a tape around the waist at roughly the level of the navel, is a more reliable source to figure out if the individual is prone to heart risks and diabetes, than is the Body Mass Index (BMI), the statistical measure of the weight of a person scaled according to height.

The scientists have now gathered evidence; elucidating the fact that waist circumference may be a better measure of the health risks associated with obesity.

Dr. Chaoyang Li of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Stephen Cook of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York and colleagues, examined data collected from several national surveys of health and fitness taken by the federal government, of children aging 2-19.

In the journal Pediatrics, they reported that abdominal obesity (excess weight around the middle), has increased in both boys and girls.

"Those increases only grow more alarming as you tease out specific age groups over longer periods of time," Cook said in a statement.

"For example, between the 1988-1994 data and the 1999-2004 data, the largest relative increase in the prevalence of abdominal obesity occurred among 2- to 5-year old boys -- 84 percent -- and 18- to 19-year-old girls -- 126 percent."

Type 2 diabetes, which affected middle aged people till now, is on an increase in children as well due to the ever increasing abdominal fat.

The researchers said that detecting body fat early and taking appropriate steps to curb it at the beginning, can prove to be a fruitful step towards a healthy and fit life.

"Kids, teens and adults who have early stages of atherosclerosis in their arteries can have a healthy cardiovascular system again," Cook said in a statement.

"Older adults who have plaque build-up have a much harder battle, especially if the plaque has calcified."