by Harry Pino, PhD and Alexis Smith, MS

From the Obesity Consult Center, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts

“To understand the obese child, one needs to remember that he accumulated his extra weight while living in a family that, wittingly or unwittingly, encouraged overeating and inactivity.”[1]

INTRODUCTION

By simply taking a look at children playing in a schoolyard, it can be clearly seen that the obesity epidemic has now reached our most vulnerable population, our children, who are our future. There is much debate as to the most contributable cause of this epidemic, but researchers are now coming to some sort of consensus by slowly accepting the idea that obesity is a multifactorial problem.

Read the rest of this article »