Do as I say, not as I do. The new epidemic of childhood obesity.
The epidemic of childhood obesity has spread unchecked worldwide and will likely evolve into an epidemic of premature cardiovascular disease in adults.1 Obese children become obese adults, and this generation of children could well be the first to be outlived by their parents. The implications of the enormous disease, economic, and social burden this will create have not yet been forecasted, but they will undoubtedly put a tremendous strain on the health care system.2 The article by Plourde (page 322) carefully highlights the issues and the important and essential role that family physicians must play in preventing, identifying, and managing overweight status and obesity in children. 
 
While childhood obesity is ultimately a behavioural health problem, success in managing it cannot be achieved without addressing the toxic environment in which children live today. Childhood obesity is a multibillion-dollar business, not in terms of its treatment but in terms of the pervasive marketing and consumption of unhealthy food and drink and sedentary pursuits specifically targeted at children. Any efforts health care providers direct at individual children and families must take these forces into account.