One in five children is predicted to be obese by the end of the decade.

在最近的10年里，预计1/5的孩子将过于肥胖。

But efforts to turn that tide are scattershot and underfunded, and the government killed one of the few programs proven to work, specialists said Wednesday.

但是，扭转这一趋势的措施却依然漫不经心，同时还受到资金不足的困扰；专家周三称，政府甚至还扼杀了一个项目，这个项目是少数几个被证明能够起到作用的项目之一。

Programs that target youngsters' growing waistlines are sprouting around the country, an encouraging sign that the threat to children's health is being taken seriously, said the report by the Institute of Medicine.

医药学会的报告中指出，各地都涌现出了许多旨在解决青少年不断增长的腰围的项目，这是一个令人鼓舞的信号，证明孩子们的健康威胁正在得到人们的重视。

But no one knows which programs really help kids slim down, said the institute said in calling for research to identify best methods.

但是没有人知道到底哪些项目可以真正帮助孩子减肥，该学会表示。学会希望通过研究找到减肥的最佳办法。

More troubling, the country lacks the national leadership needed to speed change, lamented an expert panel convened by the scientific group.

更麻烦的是，国家缺乏一个领导机构，这使科研组织召集的专家组深感沮丧。

“Is this as important as stockpiling antibiotics or buying vaccines？I think it is,” said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan of Emory University, who led the IOM's panel. “This is a major health problem. It's of a different nature than acute infectious threats, but it needs to be taken just as seriously.”

“这不比储存抗生素或购买疫苗重要吗？我觉得应该同样重要”，来自艾莫雷大学的IOM专家组杰弗瑞·柯普兰说。“这是一种重要的健康问题。在本质上，它与急性传染病的威胁不同，但是也需要得到足够的重视。”

To reinforce that point, Wednesday's report spotlighted the government's VERB campaign, a program once touted as spurring a 30 percent increase in exercise among the preteens it reached. It ended this year with Bush administration budget cuts.

为了强调这一观点，周三的报告重点讲到了政府的VERB计划，据说这一计划在其涵盖区域内增加了少年儿童30%的身体锻炼量，但这一计划在布什政府缩减预算时给终止了。

VERB encouraged 9- to 13-year-olds to take part in physical activities, like bike riding or skateboarding. Slick ads, at a cost of $59 million last year, portrayed exercise as cool at an age when outdoor play typically winds down and adolescent slothfulness sets in.

VERB鼓励9-13岁的孩子参加像骑自行车、溜冰等体育活动。去年，有5千9百万美元投入到的精美的广告宣传中。广告引导那些处于因户外活动减少而开始变得慵懒的年龄的青少年们认为锻炼身体也很时尚。

The demise of the program “calls into question the commitment to obesity prevention within government,” the panel concluded.

专家组总结说，这一计划的终止“让人们开始拷问政府在防治肥胖症中所承担的义务”。#p#分页标题#e#

Koplan was more blunt, calling it a waste of taxpayer money to develop a program that works and then dismantle it.

柯普兰说的更不留情面，他认为终止一个有效的项目就是在浪费纳税人的钱。

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is “trying to do everything we can to package the research and lessons learned from VERB so it can inform campaigns local groups might take on throughout the country,” responded CDC spokesman Jeff McKenna.

疾病防控中心“正在尽一切努力进行研究，并从VERB中吸取教训，为各地方组织发动的防治肥胖运动提供信息”，防控中心发言人杰弗·麦肯纳表示。

The report cites other examples of promising federal programs that have yet to reach their potential. Kids gobbled fruits and vegetables in an Agriculture Department school snack program, but it only reaches 14 states. And CDC's main anti-obesity initiative had enough money this year to fund just 28 states starting childhood nutrition and exercise programs.

报告引述了一些令人乐观的政府计划作为例子，但这些计划还没有发挥其潜力。在农业部的学校餐饮计划中，孩子们更多的食用蔬菜和水果，但是这只在14个州实行。防控中心主要的防治肥胖的计划今年的资金也只有够在28个州推广儿童营养餐和参加身体锻炼的项目。

The report also lauded some creative state and local efforts, including：

报告也赞扬了一些有创造性的州和一些地方性的策略，这些包括：

A California program, started in Marin County, to build new sidewalks and bike paths that's getting more children to walk or bike to school.

开始于马林县的一个加州项目：修建更多的人行道了自行车道供更多的孩子步行或骑车上学。

A community garden project in Harlem to increase inner-city youngsters' access to healthful food and safe recreation.

哈勒姆社区花园项目：增加市中心孩子们获得健康饮食和安全娱乐的途径。

An effort by Arkansas schools notify parents when students are overweight. Combined with new school menus and physical activity programs, the initiative recently reported a leveling off of the state's child obesity rate.

阿肯色州的学校将学生肥胖情况通报家长的计划。与新的学校菜单和体育活动等计划相结合，本州的肥胖儿童的比例首先开始稳定下来。

The IOM, which advises the government on health matters, in 2004 called for a joint attack on childhood obesity by parents, schools, communities, the food industry and government. Wednesday's report was the first checkup.

作为政府咨询健康问题的机构，IOM在2004年提出父母、学校、社区、食品工业和政府联合起来防治肥胖。周三的报告是对此的首次检验。

“We still are not doing enough to prevent childhood obesity, and the problem is getting worse,” concluded Koplan, a former CDC director. “The current level of public and private sector investments does not match the extent of the problem.”

“我们在防治儿童肥胖上做的还不够；这个问题也更加突出了，”前疾控中心主任科普兰说。“目前的公众和私人投资不足以解决现在问题。”#p#分页标题#e#

More than individual programs, a full-scale social change is needed so that healthful eating and physical activity becomes the norm, added panelist Toni Yancey of the University of California, Los Angeles.

来自洛杉矶加利福尼亚大学的托妮·艳西说，除了个人计划，全方位的社会变革也是必要的，必须形成健康的饮食和体育锻炼规范。

Some 17 percent of U.S. youngsters already are obese, and millions more are overweight. Obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, sleep problems and other disorders.

大约17%的美国儿童已经患有肥胖症，还有上百万的儿童超重。肥胖症可引起糖尿病、高血压、睡眠问题和其他的身体机能紊乱。

Wednesday's report shows “what the country is doing is like putting a Band-Aid on a brain tumor,” said Margo Wootan of the consumer advocacy Center for Science in the Public Interest.

周三的报告显示“目前政府所做的事情就像是给患脑肿瘤的患者打绷带”，大众营养健康科学中心的玛戈·乌坦说。