SEATTLE -- The numbers are truly alarming. Nearly one in three people in this country - children and adults - is overweight or obese.

This can lead to a wide range of life-shortening health problems, from diabetes to heart disease.

Look at these figures published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Twelve percent of kids between the ages of 2 and 5 are obese, and 17 percent of kids between 6 and 11 are grossly overweight. And 18 percent of teens carry around too many pounds.

Today, more than 100 health professionals attended the first statewide obesity conference held at Seattle Children's Hospital, and discussed ways to encourage healthy eating and lifestyle habits.

"Some experts predict that this generation of kids will not live as long as their parents, solely because of this epidemic in obesity," said Dr. Joseph Thompson, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity.

Thompson was the event's keynote speaker of the event. I sat down with him to talk about possible solutions.

"Our kids are eating too many calories, and not burning off enough calories each day," he said. "So we're going to have to pay much more attention to the nutrition they're getting - whether it's at school or at home or while they're playing - and how much exercise they're getting."

Thompson said a good place to start is in schools, since kids spend the majority of their time in schools. But he said parents need to be a part of the equation as well.

"I think parents need to take a good look at what food their kids get at school, and what food their kids get where they spend their day," he said.

And what the kids eat is only a part of the problem, Thompson said; lack of exercise is the other battlefront.

"(Parents) They also need to look at where they (their kids) spend their day and how they spend their day, whether it's in front of the television playing video games, or whether they're getting the recommended 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity each and every day," he said.

With the decline of physical education in our schools as a result of academic pressures, Thompson said it's especially important for parents to encourage physical activity. But the success of this movement relies on a number of factors, he said.

"Also the after-school effort -- parents are keeping their kids in(side), because they're afraid of the safety of their kids out on the parks and on the sidewalks," he said. "So we need to make sure our parks are secure, our families feel safe and that schools are getting our kids to be active once again."

And for parents looking to change the lifestyles of their kids, Thompson encourages them to take a good look at themselves, too.

"It really is a family change, and it's a change about where the family lives, what the food is," he said. "Whoever's buying the food, bringing it into the home can make better food choices. Whoever's sitting on the couch can get up, take the family for a walk in the evening, too.

"It really is a family issue; we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg with the effect on our kids."

Thompson said we've got to stop this epidemic before it takes a toll on our kids' lives and on our health care costs.

"We cannot continue to bear the burden of this obesity risk, because the downstream health care costs are going to rob our families of their health, and our businesses of their economic lifeline," he said.

This is an uphill battle, but Thompson said the summit demonstrated that changes will be possible.

"I think the summit today was a great first step. You're going to see action coming out of Washington state communities to make the necessary changes to reverse this epidemic," he said.

For more information:

Childhood obesity

Medline Plus: Obesity in Children