Should your child attend "fat camp"?

• Position: Summer camps offering weight reducing exercises - Brief article

This summer, thousands of oversized kids are attending what some derisively call "fat camps" in hopes of losing weight. While you read this, they are exercising, perhaps for the first time since toddlerhood, while learning about nutrition and eating meals with portions that many would consider a light snack.

It is part of a reaction to a crisis both perceived and real. Young people more than ever are feeling the pressure to look fit and trim. However, it is not just body-image issues that drive this trend. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, the percentage of young people who are overweight has more than tripled since 1980--and obesity, the CDC indicates, clearly is tied to numerous health problems, including hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease. The problem does not just stop with overweight youngsters, though. Lifelong eating habits are established in childhood. The result is that the U.S. is in a population-wide obesity crisis.

The experts are at odds with each other over some aspects of...