"Wake-up Call"

Read here in Forbes about a recently completed longitudinal study of weight problems in females that began when they were 9 or 10 and continued until the women were in their 30s. This is a rather bleak outlook, but it demonstrates how important it is to develop good diet and exercise habits early in life:

"'This shows that obesity and other risk factors for heart disease track from younger to older. This is a wake-up call for policymakers, for schools, for parents,' said Arlene Spark, associate professor of nutrition at Hunter College, in New York City. 'The success rate for treatment is practically zero. The only thing that we can really hope for is that we can prevent children from becoming overweight and obese.'"

"Girls who were overweight during childhood were 11 to 30 times more likely to be obese as young adults."