Childhood Obesity Quiz On The Biggest Loser

This season, on The Biggest Loser, they’ve invited 3 kids to be ambassadors for childhood obesity. They aren’t living on the ranch, but they are coming out for some of the challenges. In last night’s show, they quizzed the contestants on several facts about childhood obesity. They were pretty scary. I thought I’d share them here with the research to support them (or at least as close to the questions as I can remember).

• How many hours of screen time to kids have per day?
  • 4.5 hours
  • The recommendation is to get it to 2 hours a day or less (outside of school and work).
• What percentage of kids age 6-11 are obese?
  • 20% per the CDC
• What percentage of parents with obese kids don’t think their kids are obese?
  • 77% from one study
• How fast has childhood obesity grown in the past 30 years?
  • It has tripled per the CDC
• What is the primary source of calories for kids?
  • 27% of their calories come from junk food
  • Here’s more on sugary drinks (not just soda) which is a huge source of calories

There are lots of efforts in this area. Here’s a few links to resources:

• CDC
• HHS
• Harvard

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