Physical inactivity is especially alarming when considering simultaneous increases in the number of people who are overweight or obese. From 1991 to 2000, South Carolina saw a 56% increase in the number of residents who are obese (13.8 percent to 21.5 percent) (9). Currently, over half (56%) of Spartanburg County adults are overweight (10). The picture is more disturbing among youth. In 1999, 13% of children aged 6 to 11 years and 14% of adolescents aged 12 to 19 were overweight. This percentage has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past two decades11. Health problems typically seen in adults, such as non-insulin dependent diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and osteoporosis, are increasingly being diagnosed in children. The statistics are bound to get worse as overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese as adults (12).
Recent Study - F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2008
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