Book excerpt: The experts at America's 'Hospital of the Future' provide a comprehensive approach to helping parents control their children's weight while developing a healthy, active lifestyle. Studies show that as many as one in four American children is overweight, and childhood obesity rates have doubled since the late 1970s. Medical problems that doctors once saw only in adults aged 50 or older are now striking individuals in their 20s and younger, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, colorectal cancer, high blood pressure, asthma, joint problems, and arthritis. In this essential new book, a pediatric endocrinologist and a respected dietician present a step-by-step, medically sound, and achievable weight-control program that will benefit the whole family. Poor diet and sedentary lifestyles-as well as a lack of parental guidance-are at the root of this child obesity epidemic. Studies show that approximately 40 % of obese children will grow up to be obese adults. This book seeks to break this alarming pattern.