We Americans, lead the rest of the world in OBESITY. In fact, obesity is already the #1 health problem that can result in everything from diabetes to heart attacks including in children.  The problem starts at a very early age, during childhood. These days children are not getting enough rigorous activities and the abundance of food fortified with corn starch, excess fat and sugar give rise to excess weight retention that eventually leads to childhood obesity.

Often parents are surprised and shocked when I mention that their child is already overweight at their well check ups. Sometimes there is anger, frustration, guilt but mostly they feel helpless and hopeless and wonder what they can do to monitor their child's weight.

In the past we (doctors) use growth charts on children to make sure that every child can grow to their maximum potential and prevent them from "falling" off the curve that can be caused from malnutrition and chronic diseases. These days,  we use it to detect, educate and prevent obesity.  More and more boys and girls starting at a very early age  are gaining too much weight out of proportion to their height gain. Unfortunately, as our nation gets larger especially in the southern states where I use to live and practice medicine; an overweight child may be now be the norm amongst his peers and appear "healthy" to their parents. Often, a young child in my clinic that is  already overweight has end-organ damage, like having diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, elevated cholesterol, etc.

How can a parent help prevent obesity if they don't even know that their child is already overweight?  There is a huge lack the practical tools and resources to monitor to help parents understand and monitor their child's growth and to prevent obesity. In fact studies have shown that prevention visits at doctors offices does very little to prevent risk of obesity.

In adult medicine, BMI is often used to track obesity and some of the pediatric clinics I have worked at have tried using that as well for tracking. But BMI is such a very abstract concept, and often parents walk away more confused when we try to explain and  monitor their children's weight with BMI #s.

That is why I have devoted much of the past 5 years in developing a home version of our clinical growth chart for every parent who wants their child to grow healthy. These growth charts are exactly like the ones you may find behind every child's chart at the doctor's office, which is based on large amount of compiled data collected by the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Our medical growth charts are large enough (58" x 30") like the commercial ones, that you can hang on walls or doors in your own home. It is also very durable, and you can directly plot your child's height and weight on it. Unlike commercial growth charts, which is essentially a very well decorated large ruler,  our clinical growth chart, can tell you what your child's ideal weight should be based on his or her height percentile receptively.  For example, using our growth chart, if your child's height is at 50%,  his weight should be near 50% as well, thus being proportional.  If his weight is at 75% while his height is only at 50%, he may already be overweight, because his weight is at a greater percentile than his height percentile. This I think is simpler way to understand ideal body weight and height. More information and explanation are under our FAQs.

I personally believe that every parent who are better informed and have the necessary tools can help prevent their child from becoming overweight and ultimately prevent obesity. Having our growth chart does not replace an actual visit with your pediatrician or doctor, but you will be better involved and informed in your child's growth.

I am very confident that you will love our clinical growth chart for your home use, that if you are not completely satisfied,  just send it back to me in its original unused condition within the first 30 days and I will refund your original purchase price.