Shocking data about kids and illness in the USA

Pediatrician Alan Greene, MD, discusses some shocking data about kids and illness in America today and explains the effects that it could have on children later in life
Shocking Facts About Illnesses In Kids In The USA
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Shocking data about kids and illness in the USA

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When I started in pediatrics not that long ago, it was extremely rare to see a child with high blood pressure. That was a middle aged or elderly condition. And if we did check a cholesterol in a child, you never saw a cholesterol level that was out of whack or triglycerides that were off the charts. It just didn't happen unless they had some rare familial disease. And when I started in pediatrics, you didn't see kids with high blood sugar, unless they had that rare juvenile type I diabetes. And when I started in pediatrics, not that long ago, you didn't see kids with waist sizes that were going over 38 or 40 inches in kids. But today in the United States not much later 2/3 of kids 12-18, in middle school and high school already have at least one of those middle-aged health conditions. We've had a rapid change in our health. And this rapid change in a backwards way is good news. It means we can rapidly change back to a better state than we're in today. It means changes in the way kids eat and changes in the way kids move and changes in the chemicals they're exposed to. But this is a big deal. It's a metabolic ticking time bomb. And unless we tackle this problem, we're setting our kids up for severe illness early in life.

Pediatrician Alan Greene, MD, discusses some shocking data about kids and illness in America today and explains the effects that it could have on children later in life

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Alan Greene, MD

Founder, DrGreene.com

Dr. Alan Greene founded his website, DrGreene.com, in 1995, cited by the AMA as "the pioneer physician web site." In 2010 he founded the WhiteOut Now movement to change how babies are fed from their very first bite of solid food, and in 2012 he founded TICC TOCC – Transitioning Immediate Cord Clamping To Optimal Cord Clamping. He is an author of several books including Feeding Baby Green and appears frequently in the media including such venues as the The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, TODAY Show, Good Morning America, the Dr. Oz Show, and is a regular columnist for Parenting magazine. He is a practicing pediatrician and the father of four.

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