• About 15% of children and adolescents ages 6-19 years are seriously overweight.

• The percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight has nearly tripled, since the early 1970's.

• Researchers found that 'lowered self-esteem was associated with being overweight in girls as young as 5 years old.

• 1 in 5 children in the. U.S. are overweight.

• Children with obesity, ages 10-13, are reported to have a 70% likelihood of obesity persisting into adult years.

• A report from the CDC states that 61.5% of children ages 9~13years do not participate in any organized physical activity during their non-school hours and that 22.6% do not engage in any free-time physical activity.

• 26% of American youth watch four or more hours of television per day.

• 67% of American youth watch two or more hours of television per day.

• More than half (57%) of American youth have"a TV in their bedroom; 39% have video game equipment; 30% have a VCR;20% have a computer and ,11% have internet access.

• The American Heart Association recommends that all children ages 2 and older should participate in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activities every day for at least 3-4 days each week to maintain a good level of cardio respiratory heart and lung fitness.

• Children and adolescents should be taking 13,000 - 15,000 steps each day to maintain a healthy body.

These facts and statistics were taken from the COC Verb Campaign (www.cdc.qov) and the American Heart Association (www.americanheart.org)