I spent this past Thursday morning at the Childhood Obesity Summit sponsored jointly by the Cleveland Clinic and Slate.com.  Lest you think that my sense of urgency about diabetes and obesity is overdone or misplaced, here are a few statistics I learned that might rocket you out of your chair:

Obesity rates in children have tripled in the past 30 years.  Stroke rates in children are up by one-third.  This problem has nothing to do with genetics.  Evolution doesn’t happen that fast.  

Twenty-seven percent of 17-24 year olds are now too heavy to serve in the military, and fully 47% of male and 59% of female military applicants cannot pass the military physical.  

In 15 school districts surrounding greater Cleveland, 8000 students had their BMI’s tested this past year.  BMI stands for body mass index, and you can calculate yours here.  In kindergarten, 26% were in the 85th percentile or higher.  By 5th grade, 40% were in the 85th percentile or higher.  

A child who develops diabetes before age 14 shortens his/her lifespan by 17 to 27 years.  

Meals prepared and/or eaten outside of the home contain at least 134 calories more than meals prepared and eaten at home.  

David Katz MD, Director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center and one of many terrific speakers at the symposium, spoke a message that hit home when he said that we face a terribly difficult obstacle in our attempts to overcome this public health crisis.  The fact is that public health has no face.  I can quote all the statistics I can find, but in the end they are just numbers. 

Dr. Katz urged us to turn the statistics into compelling human stories.  We need to help John Q. Public find a parking spot at the hospital where he is visiting his mother after her stroke, to videotape John Q. picking up his diabetes medications at the pharmacy, to see the look on Jane Q. Public’s face when the pediatrician tells her that her son’s blood sugars have risen into the diabetic range.  It’s time to give “public” a human face.  

I’ve shared in this blog stories about Mrs. Price and many others.  They are not just stories.  They are real.  They are about you and me and the people we love.  We cannot fix this problem without a lot of effort, but fix it we must.  I do know that if we are to survive strong and healthy, then prevention must become the backbone of the American health care system. 

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