A group of 40 high school students from the Los Angeles area launched a social network website called We’re Fed Up to educate youth about the dangers of fast food and teen obesity. Their slogan for the site is “It Takes Guts to Fight Obesity.”

Obesity has left many teens nationwide with diabetes and heart disease which can be linked to fatty foods high in calories.

A recent study, which surveyed 12,000 2- to 19-year-olds from across the U.S, found that the rate of severe obesity among children and teenagers more than tripled over the past three decades. The study also showed that minority youth are more likely to be obese than whites. Nearly 6 percent of black children and teens were severely obese, as were about 5 percent of Mexican-American youth compared to 3 percent of their white peers.

Youth who are most affected by obesity also have trouble getting good health care and come from lower-income families.

The We’re Fed Up site features photos of the students involved in the social network, as well as videos and blog posts about nutrition, junk food and exercise, according to The Los Angeles Times. The teens launched the site earlier this month after partnering with the Accelerated School, the California Center for Public Health Advocacy in Baldwin Park and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Sources:

www.werefedup.com

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/la-and-baldwin-park-teens-launch-web-stie-to-fight-obesity.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE57A5R520090811

The California Teens Create Website to Fight Obesity by Haven Magazine, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.