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Currently, more than one in five children between the ages of 6 and 17 are overweight, and only 32% of kids in that age group meet the minimum standards for cardiovascular fitness, flexibility and upper-body strength. These types of trends are causing a sharp rise in Type 2 diabetes (self-inflicted, or on-set diabetes) among young people, a critical health problem previously viewed as a disease of middle-aged or older individuals. "The process of heart disease clearly begins at a very young age. Overweight children are much more likely to get heart disease earlier in life than other people," says Daniel Jones, MD, director of hypertension at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (Jackson). Kimball and his colleagues are finding that abnormalities in the heart of obese youth begin to form in the early teens or even sooner. Although those in that study are now participating in weight-reduction programs, modest weight loss hasn't proven very effective. This suggests that it may take steep weight loss to erase the damage caused by early obesity. Unfortunately, teenage behavior isn't easy to deal with, say the researchers: You have to convince these young people that they must take care of their health for the long-term.