"About 17% of kids and teens in the U.S. are now considered obese, a figure that has more than tripled since the 1970s..."

With Rise in Childhood Obesity, Corresponding Increase in Type 2 Diabetes Seen in Young Americans

"For years, health experts have bemoaned the rise of childhood obesity in the United States. About 17% of kids and teens in the U.S. are now considered obese, a figure that has more than tripled since the 1970s, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A report in this week’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine lays out one of the consequences of all this excess weight: a corresponding increase in childhood cases of type 2 diabetes."