Childhood obesity affects over ONE THIRD of all children in the United States. The epidemic is equally serious in other countries. Approximately 22 million children worldwide under the age of five are obese. And more than three times that number are dangerously overweight.

Obesity affects everyone. The percentage of the world's children, babies through teenagers, who are significantly overweight or actually obese is growing steadily, with no sign of abatement, despite the efforts of well-intended citizens and celebrities who are touting the standard generic fixes of "more exercise, better diets!"

The situation is so dire that OUR CURRENT GENERATION OF CHILDREN growing up in the United States might well be the FIRST GENERATION IN THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY TO HAVE A STATISTICALLY LOWER LIFE EXPECTANCY THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE. Despite significant medical advances, the myriad complications stemming from overweight and obesity are outpacing all of our scientific and humanitarian efforts at improving longevity and the quality of life.

The problem is multinational. The epidemic respects no borders or boundaries. It is not limited to the world's poor. It is not restricted to technologically underdeveloped nations. It is everywhere. And obese mothers have nine times the likelihood of giving birth to seriously unhealthy babies than mothers of average weight.

Some of the most recent statistics are frightening: Obesity rates are more than 25% among children between four and ten years of age in Chile, Peru and Mexico. In Egypt, more than 25% of four-year-olds are fat. In some countries more than 30% of all children are morbidly obese. And the percentages have been rising at an accelerating rate during these past twenty years.