All About That Bass? What About All That Diabetes And Cardiac Disease?

Yeah, my mama she told me don't worry about your size
She says, "Boys like a little more booty to hold at night."
"All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor

From the Centers for Disease Control:

• Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.^{1, 2}
• The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.^{1, 2}
• In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.¹
• Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.³ Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.⁴

• Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.

 

What's wrong with having a little more junk in the trunk? Again from the CDC:
 
Immediate health effects:

• Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a population-based sample of 5- to 17-year-olds, 70% of obese youth had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.⁷
• Obese adolescents are more likely to have prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels indicate a high risk for development of diabetes.^8,9
• Children and adolescents who are obese are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.^5,6,10

Long-term health effects:

• Children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults^11-14 and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.⁶  One study showed that children who became obese as early as age 2 were more likely to be obese as adults.¹²
• Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk for many types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate, as well as multiple myeloma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

So yes your mama should be worrying about your size and watching your diet. Besides if you want to sing about having an oversized booty, this song is much better and will always be a classic: