Kinder Institute’s Urban Health Program to host screening of documentary focusing on childhood obesity Aug. 28

The Rice community and members of the general public can learn more about the childhood obesity epidemic when a new documentary, “Children in Crisis,” is screened Aug. 28 at Rice’s BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC).

Produced by HBO and the Institute of Medicine, the documentary highlights the ongoing childhood obesity epidemic in the United States, the side effects of which include greater risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and other serious health problems. The combination of these health issues and the dramatic increase in childhood obesity rates over the past three decades causes some experts to fear this may be the first generation of American children who will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

The Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research’s Urban Health Program, the Children’s Nutrition Research Center and Children at Risk will host the screening at 6:30 p.m. in the BRC Auditorium.

For more information, visit http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/films/main-films/Crisis.