ABSTRACT
The obesity epidemic has become a major global focus of the medical and public health communities. Millions of dollars are lost each year due to the consequences of obesity [1]. The alarming prevalence of obesity in the pediatric age group and the fact that an obese child has a 70% chance of becoming an obese adult has led to the need for and development of preventive strategies in childhood. Complications of obesity include cardiovascular disease (CVD) which is the leading cause of death and morbidity in the United States [2]. The indirect costs of obesity (absenteeism, disability, premature mortality, and workers’ compensation) are related to long-term disease and have increased to two billion dollars [3]. The life expectancy of the current generation is lower than that of their parents and related to the effects of obesity [4,5]. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce, recognize, and summarize the epidemiology, denition, management, and complications of childhood obesity and evaluate different strategies to combat this problem.
