When a group of New York City teens - including one allegedly weighing 400 pounds - sued McDonald's Corp. recently, claiming the fast-food giant caused their obesity and subsequent health problems, many people raised a cynical eyebrow. This is America, after all, where lawsuits over cancer-causing cigarettes or scalding hot coffee result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in victim compensation.

But what makes the McDonald's suit so provocative is that children are involved. Each plaintiff in this suit - which was dismissed by a federal judge in January, but re-filed in February - claims to have eaten the restaurant's burgers, fries or Chicken McNuggets every day for years.

Every day? Who lets their children eat fast food more than a couple of times a week, let alone every day? The answer, apparently, is many of us.

Americans spend more than $110 billion annually on fast food. Studies show that nearly half our food dollars are spent on food eaten away from home. And, on any given day, one in four adults eats at a fast-food restaurant.

Yet fast food is only one factor in the U.S. obesity epidemic. Only 3 percent of us meet at least four of the five federal Food Guide Pyramid recommendations for daily intake of grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat. Less than a third of us accomplish the recommended 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five times a week. And 40 percent of us have no leisure-time physical activity at all.

It's not difficult to see why so many kids are on the path to being overweight. The culture of overeating, poor food quality and sedentary lifestyles is pervasive. But what worries health professionals most are the potentially deadly effects of being overweight or obese, particularly for kids. Overweight children are at increased risk of hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, orthopedic problems, upper respiratory infections and severe asthma.

It's a scary scenario, and one that our society has been slow to deal with. We're up against:

• a food industry that pockets billions of dollars from our purchases of processed, high-calorie convenience food - often in huge portion sizes.
• a fast-paced lifestyle that doesn't honor meal time as leisure or family time; and
• a high-tech society in which TVs and computers entertain us, while machines increasingly do our work for us.

Until this changes, health and government officials - including the Surgeon General and the national Centers for Disease Control - are asking

Keeping kids healthy and fit is every parent's responsibility. We as parents must learn what to do and how to make a healthy lifestyle part of our children's lives.

In sports we hire and pay astronomical fees to coaches to teach our children how to play games, soccer, basketball, football, gymnastics, and so on and so on. So how much more should we invest in changing our children's lives so that they may live longer and healthier lives full of self confidence and knowledge?

We as parents also have busy schedules, our own battles with fitness and in most cases lack of knowledge on how to properly motivate and teach our children.

This is where UB KIDS comes in. We have the knowledge, time, and proven motivation to teach children how to empower themselves so that they can change their lives.