Doctors are trying to conquer the obesity epidemic by focusing on American youth.
According to this article courtesy of Reuters and the Huffington Post, a third of American children are eating fast-food meals on any given day. That reportedly amounts to in excess of $110 billion every year on artery-clogging burgers and fries and is more than is spent on higher education -- much like money spent on death row last meals.
The doctors are claiming that banning fast-food ads would decrease the obesity and overweight rate by 17 percent. Although that sounds great, here's the problem we see: Banning the ads will not stop parents from feeding their children Big Macs for dinner. It's also not going to erase the pleasurable memories from the child's mind.
Then there's the problem with physical exercise -- kids just aren't getting it. Thedailygreen.com explains that children on average watch 28 hours of TV per week. That's six hours per day. If you factor in hours for sleeping and school, it means that children are spending roughly a fourth of their day in front of the boob tube.
No wonder we have such a problem with weight. We want to know what you think. Feel free to pipe up in the comments section below.
And in case you're having a hard time believing that American kids have weight problems, just watch this video from the Maury Show.
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