All generations have to be involved in the battle against childhood obesity in Bermuda, according to an American psychologist.

Dr. Helen Kinard Scott, National Medical Association (NMA) Vice President region two of the auxiliary, was in Bermuda recently for the annual NMA Region Two meeting. The NMA is America's largest organisation of African American physicians and Premier Dr. Ewart Brown is a member.

Dr. Scott said childhood obesity was one of the topics addressed at the conference in Bermuda, adding: ""Childhood obesity is a major concern to us. When we look at childhood obesity it seems to be related to the family not just the children.

"We are interested in prevention. We have to start early on with not only exercising, but also meal planning and the family being aware of these issues."

Obesity is a serious health concern for children and adolescents.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted in the United States between 2007 and 2008 estimated that 17 percent of children between two-years-old and 19-years-old were obese.

Obesity puts children at greater risk for health problems during their youth, such as cardiovascular disease (such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol) and Type 2 diabetes.

And one study found that they were 80 percent more likely to become obese adults if they were obese between the ages of ten and 15.

Dr. Scott said there was no reason to think the figures weren't similar for children in Bermuda. "The title of our group session was 'Obesity, the Intergenerational Epidemic'," said Dr. Scott.

The lecture was designed to explore the various contributing factors to childhood obesity. and participants looked at a potential plan for addressing some of the issues surrounding childhood obesity. They literally put some of their ideas into motion with the help of a group of children from Bright Temple AME church. "We had the kids demonstrate how exercise is one of the combatants to obesity," said Dr. Scott. "They did exercises like 'hop, skip and jump'.

"We hope we will be able to interest people in Bermuda and other groups throughout the world in participating in exercises such as this." And she said people had to change the way they looked at getting healthy. "Many times we tend to go on diets limiting the intake of food rather than adjusting the kind of foods we eat and making better selections."

She said it was also important that schools kept up physical education programmes. "In the United States very often in the economic cut-backs the first programmes dropped are often physical education," she said. Dr. Scott said she would eventually like to see a chapter of the NMA established in Bermuda, and also its auxiliary.