Childhood obesity in America : biography of an epidemic / Laura Dawes.

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, 2014.

viii, 305 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-294) and index.

Measurement and diagnosis. How big is normal ? : Quantifying children's body size ; Measuring up : Height-weight standards and diagnosis ; Sugar, spice, frogs, snails : The composition of the fat child ; Insides made easy : Measuring and diagnosing obesity using body composition -- Causes and treatments. Something wrong inside : Childhood obesity as a biological fault, and the hope for a drug treatment ; The enduring promise : The continued search for a pharmaceutical remedy ; Feeling fat : Emotions and family as factors in childhood obesity ; Kalorie Kids : Energy balance and the turn to child responsibility ; Summer slimming : Fat camps as a diet-and-exercise obesity treatment -- Epidemic. Bigger bodies in a broken world : Television and the epidemic of childhood obesity ; Fat kids go to court : Legal action as public health response to childhood obesity.