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This paper introduces the metric ‘mean duration of obesity’ to measure the average number of years lived with obesity in a population. A procedure was developed to estimate duration from periodic cross-sectional surveys. For annual cohorts born in the United States between 1925 and 1989, I estimated a logit model to derive age-cohort-specific probabilities of overweight and obesity (body mass index 25 to <30 and 30, respectively), and applied life table techniques to convert these into person-years. Duration of obesity by age 50 increased fourfold from 3.58 to 14.35 years. The rate of increase was stronger across the 1945-79 and 1980-89 cohorts than the 1925-44 cohorts. The trend was driven by increased risks of obesity among children: age groups under 20 were responsible for 31 per cent of the duration increase between the 1930 and 1960 cohorts, but 72 per cent between the 1960 and 1985 cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we offer a critical examination of Let's Move!, the comprehensive anti-obesity program initiated by the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, that aims to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. We argue that Let's Move! is not just a campaign against obesity but is emblematic of the nature of (and assumptions underpinning) the health education of children in the contemporary United States. Drawing on the concept of ‘governmentality,’ we examine how Let's Move! functions as a biopolitical strategy (a solution to the problem of childhood obesity), framed by the political rationalities of neoliberalism. In particular, we identify and explore three interrelated bio-techniques mobilized within, and through, the Let's Move! campaign. First, in an effort to ‘responsibilize’ citizens, the initiative is framed as a social movement whereby all segments of society can (and should) be empowered to take collective action against childhood obesity. Second, an array of multi-sectoral partnerships, including corporate sponsors and non-profit organizations, are being mobilized, resulting in a range of initiatives underpinned by the rhetoric of consumer choice and responsibility as well as the outsourcing of physical education to private entities. Third, the adoption of standardized fitness testing techniques based on the logic of chronic disease epidemiology, and related notions of ‘risk,’ aim to produce the disciplined child-citizen who monitors his/her health goals with the aid of Web 2.0 technologies. In contextualizing Let's Move! in this way, we illustrate how, in line with the soft authoritarian imperatives of the neoliberal enabling state, the campaign functions as a national biopedagogy, working to empower every citizen to be an ‘active partner’ in the fight against childhood obesity, so as to optimize the health of the next generation and allow them, in the words of Michelle Obama, to ‘pursue their dreams.’ [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aim: This paper evaluates trends in the childhood and adolescent associations between family income, height and body mass index (BMI) between the periods 1971--1980 and 1999--2008. Subjects and methods: US-born children (aged 2--11) and adolescents (aged 12--19) in the NHANES I, NHANES II and 1999--2008 NHANES are evaluated for BMI and height using flexibly-estimated structured additive regression models. Results: Three trends are identified: BMI gains have been greater in lower-income relative to higher-income children and adolescents; height has increased more in lower-income relative to higher-income children (but not in adolescents); and BMI has increased more in taller children than shorter children (but not in adolescents). Following from these trends is that contemporary children exhibit a negative height-income interaction effect on BMI such that the inverse association between income and BMI is larger in taller children. Similar results hold when categorical obesity is considered but with modest height-related changes and income-height interaction effect in adolescents. Race--sex differences are explored and descriptive evidence on the potential role of changes in caloric intake is presented. Conclusion: The relationship between the economic environment and growth in US youth has changed in recent decades. Contemporary taller and lower-income children exhibit greater body mass and obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]