Shocking numbers in childhood obesity

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Childhood obesity is a national epidemic and the numbers are shocking.

"About a third of the children in our state, kindergarten and third graders are overweight or obese," Dr. Jewel Mullen of the Conn. Dept. of Public Health said.

These are alarming numbers, so a forum on childhood obesity was held to try to fix it.

"We develop legislative options that stress the connections between better health and better academic achievement, making action against childhood obesity an education as well as health imperative," Lucy Holan, the Executive Director of End Hunger Conn. said.

A study by the Department of Public Health looked at kids in Kindergarten and third grade.

The statistic that one in three kids is overweight goes for boys and girls equally, but there is a big disparity among the races. Only 27 percent of white kids are overweight or obese, compared to 41 percent of black kids and 43 percent of Hispanics.

Childhood obesity is a topic for the state government because those fat kids grow up to be fat adults and fat adults are prone to getting diseases that can be very expensive to treat.

"Including heart attack, stroke diabetes, cancer, arthritis, high blood pressure, all leading to premature death," Sen. Donald Williams, the Senate President Pro Tempore, said.

In the past few years, the state legislature pushed through new laws banning soda and encouraging healthier food in schools, but it's tough to fight the advertising of cheap, convenient, fattening food, so when a barbecue stand says the food is so good it should be illegal, they may not be kidding.