FIRE
UP
YOUR
FEET!
Childhood Obesity Fact Sheet
The rate of childhood obesity has increased at alarming rates over the past few decades. Obese
children are at an increased risk for developing health problems such as heart disease, diabetes,
cancer, and hypertension. Activity levels for many children have declined because of a built
environment that is unsafe for walking and bicycling, the low percentage of children who take physical
education in school, and the popularity of sedentary leisure time activities.
Childhood Obesity Facts
• According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, children and adolescents should
participate in physical activity for at least 60 minutes every day;1 only one in three children are
physically active every day.2
• Obese children are more likely to become obese adults. And obesity in adulthood tends to be more
severe in those who were overweight as children.3
• One in every three children ages 2-19 is overweight or obese4 and one third of all children born in
the year 2000 are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetime.5
• The current generation may even be on track to have a shorter lifespan than their parents.6
• Excess weight is costly during childhood, estimated at $3 billion per year in direct medical costs.7
• An evaluation of the America on the Move initiative found that two small lifestyle changes—
specifically eliminating 100 kcal per day from the diet and walking an additional 2,000 steps a day—
can help address childhood obesity by preventing excess weight gain.8
Safe Routes to School Programs Increase Physical Activity
• Children who walk or bicycle to school have better cardiovascular fitness
than children who do not actively commute to school.9, 10
• In a study of adolescents, 100 percent of the students who walked both
to and from school met the recommended levels of 60 or more minutes of
moderate to vigorous physical activity on weekdays.11
• Children who walk or bike to school report being more physically active,
including engaging in more moderate to vigorous physical activity, than
those who travel by car, bus, or train.12
• In primary school-aged children, walking to school is associated with
higher levels of overall physical activity compared with those who travel to
school by motorized transport.13
• Children who walk to school are significantly more physically active
throughout the day.14, 15
Get Fired Up!
Using Safe Routes to School to create
environment, policy and behavioral
changes is one way to increase
physical activity and promote the
health of both children and adults.
The evidence for Safe Routes to
School as a strategy to address
childhood obesity is based on the
body of research that links physical
activity, the built environment, and
obesity.
• Neighborhood schools, where distances to school are more manageable, produce a 13 percent
increase in walking and bicycling.16
FIRE
UP
YOUR
FEET!
Childhood Obesity Fact Sheet (cont.)
References
U S Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2008)
2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Retrieved from: http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/
default.aspx
1
National Association for Sport and Physical Education. The Fitness Equation: Physical Activity + Balanced Diet =
Fit Kids. Reston, VA: National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1999.
2
3
CDC Basics About Childhood Obesity; www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/basics.html
Ogden, C L , Carroll, M , Curtin, L , Lamb, M , Flegal, K (2010) Prevalence of High Body Mass Index in US
Children and Adolescents 2007-2008 Journal of American Medical Association, 303(3), 242-249
4
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics (2007) National Diabetes
Surveillance System Incidence of Diabetes: Crude and Age-Adjusted Incidence of Diagnosed Diabetes per 1000
Population Aged 18-79 Years, United States, 1997–2004 Retrieved April 17, 2007 from:
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/incidence/fig2.htm
5
Olshansky, J , Passaro, D , Hershow, R , Layden, J et al (2005, May 17) A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy in
the United States in the 21st Century The New England Journal of Medicine, 352(11), 1138-1144
6
Trasande, L , Chatterjee, S (2009) Corrigendum: The Impact of Obesity on Health Service Utilization and Costs
in Childhood Obesity, 17(9)
7
Hill, James O., Ogden, Lorraine G., Rodearmel, Susan J., Stroebele, Nanette, and Wyatt, Holly R. “Small Changes
in Dietary Sugar and Physical Activity as an Approach to Preventing Excessive Weight Gain: The America on the
Move Family Study.” Pediatrics. 120 (2007): e869-e879.
8
Davison, Kirsten K., Werder, Jessica L. and Lawson, Catherine T. “Children’s Active Commuting to School:
Current Knowledge and Future Directions.” Preventing Chronic Disease. 5.3 (2008): A100.
9
Lubans, D. R., C. A. Boreham, et al. (2011). “The relationship between active travel to school and health-related
fitness in children and adolescents: a systematic review.” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and
Physical Activity 8(1): 5.
10
Alexander, Leslie M., Inchley, Jo, Todd, Joanna, Currie, Dorothy, Cooper, Ashley R., and Currie, Candace. “The
Broader Impact of Walking to School Among Adolescents: Seven Day Accelerometry Based Study”. British
Medical Journal. 331 (2005): 1061-1062.
11
12
Let’s Move!: Get Active Physical Activity http://www.letsmove.gov/active-communities accessed February 2013
Physical activity levels of children who walk, cycle or are driven to school American Journal of Preventive
Medicine, 29(3),179–184; Fulton, J E , Shisler, J L , Yore, M M , Caspersen, C J (2005) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/16168866
13
Cooper et al., “Commuting to school: Are children who walk more physically active?” American Journal of
Preventative Medicine 2003: 25(4)
14
Cooper AR, LB Andersen, N Wedderkopp, AS Page, and K Froberg. “Physical activity levels of children who walk,
cycle or are driven to school.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 29 (2005): 3, 179-184.
15
“Travel and environmental implications of school siting.” US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 231-R-03004, October 2003. Available at http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/school_travel.pdf
16