A study by University of Pennsylvania and Temple University found that overweight children were 20% more likely to be absent from school than their normal-weight peers.
BMI, body mass index, was as significant a factor in determining absenteeism from school as age, race, socioeconomic status and gender.
Fourth, 5th and 6th graders in the Pennsylvania school system
were analyzed...more than a 1,000 of them.
The chubby children have not yet developed the health problems that overweight adults have but they are already skipping out more often, "setting themselves up for the negative fallout that accompanies absenteeism."
More than health issues...bullying kept them at home.
Fat kids at home also use drugs more, get pregnant sooner and do poorer academically.
In the past 25 years, childhood obesity has tripled in the United States.
Uh...isn't it time we did something?
Comment Preview