Childhood obesity: call to action for America's physicians.

Most Americans are accustomed to gaining a few pounds from time to time. Unfortunately, more and more of us are sitting down to enjoy the bounty of summer celebrations at an already unhealthy weight. More frightening than our own health statistics—nearly 70% of American adults are overweight—are the repercussions of our poor lifestyle choices now evident in the health statistics of our children. More than 30% of children in the United States are currently overweight or at risk of becoming so.2 Among the frightening issues that confront our children unless we successfully deviate from this pattern are: