Everybody in Dr. John Fanburg's weight loss group has a story to tell. Asthma. Sleep apnea. Liver disease. High cholesterol.

Some are also on the verge of contracting diabetes. And not one person is over the age of 16.

"We're having a shifting down of all these adult illnesses into the pediatric zones," said Fanburg, who launched the group in Ellsworth this year, after patients as young as 9 got sick from being overweight.

Health professionals have known for years that young people in Maine and around the country are too heavy. More than a third of Maine kindergartners are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, according to the most recent state survey in 2003.

Numbers improve only slightly in middle school and high school.

So it was far from shocking when researchers announced last month that children nationwide are becoming too big for their car safety seats. More surprising, though, is how fast obesity has damaged children's health.

Five years ago, Fanburg wasn't even aware that obesity-related illnesses such as Type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes was a real issue among children. Today, his practice, Maine Coast Pediatrics, sees about 45 children with full-blown Type 2 diabetes and far more who have the elevated glucose levels known informally as pre-diabetes.

Fanburg also sees overweight children with hip and other joint problems, and depression related to their size.

Poor diet and little exercise, the drivers of obesity in adults, are mirrored in children. In Maine, about three-quarters of high schoolers ate fewer than the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables per day over the course of a week, according to the 2003 survey conducted for the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another 75 percent were skimping on physical activity, failing to exercise for more than 30 minutes a day during most of the week.

Instead, children are drinking 40-ounce bottles of sugary sodas while playing video games and grazing on chips. Their bodies always feel satiated, an unnatural state, said Dr. Tory Rogers at the Barbara Bush's Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

"That probably plays a hormonal role in the endocrine system and trips something up along the line, " Rogers said adding that when those children become teens, they need to eat more to feel that full.

Hoping to break the cycle, Rogers is among the health practitioners who have banded with the Maine Center for Public Health to spread the word about "5210."

The number is a mnemonic device that represents:

• Eating at least five servings of fruit and vegetables on most days.
• No more than two hours of screen time « that means limiting the use of the computer, television and video games.
• Participating in physical activity for at least one hour a day.
• Avoiding sweets or sugary beverages.

For the last 1 years, the nonprofit center has been working with 12 physicians' practices around Maine to promote 5210. The group also plans to bring 5210 to schools, starting with grades four through eight in York.

Rogers said the mnemonic is a good tool for families looking for help with weight management, especially because there are few programs for overweight children in Maine, outside of Fanburg's and one at Maine Medical.

Another good starting point is the family doctor, who can calculate a child's body mass index to determine whether he or she is overweight, and can develop on a weight-loss plan.

To make such a plan work, parents need to enforce healthful behavior, said Westbrook dietitian Debbie Pepper-Dougherty.

"Just like they wouldn't let children play with matches, they shouldn't allow eating in front of the television or computer," Pepper-Dougherty said.

Instead, families should sit down for meals together so eating becomes associated with being hungry, rather than serving as a pastime.

Every family likes different types of food, but Pepper-Dougherty said there are fail-safe approaches to improving diets. There's no going wrong with fruits and vegetables, or cutting out high-calorie sodas.

Pepper-Dougherty cautions, however, that sodas should not be replaced by other sugary drinks, such as chocolate milk and fruit juices sweetened with corn syrup.

She also warns parents not to make the overweight child feel singled out in the family, and to avoid the word "diet."

Fanburg, too, asks parents to be sensitive to their children and resist overmanaging their weight-loss plans.

"If a parent becomes too controlling with the dietary type thing, the child could go to the other extreme and become anorexic," Fanburg said.

Children should know that their self-worth is not dependent on weight loss, Fanburg said. The real target, he said, should be good health, not body image.

Cape Elizabeth resident Caitlin Wold said she made sure her daughter Binta knew that she supported her no matter what happened with her plan to lose weight. Binta, who weighed nearly 180 pounds when she was 10, ended up losing nearly 50 pounds through exercise and participating in the Weight Watchers diet program.

"I raised Binta telling her she was beautiful, not big or heavy or fat," Wold said. The 10 young participants in Fanburg's weight-loss group have seen their body image improve "five times," Fanburg said. Part of his group's success may be the peer support that's offered, as well as nutritional counseling and the effect of the 5210 campaign.

He hopes to launch another group later this year, and he has even loftier hopes for the not-so-far future.

"I'm hoping that schools have every kid exercising at least 30 minutes a day. .•.•. I'm hoping that we have better trails in our town," Fanburg said. "I'm hoping I don't see diabetes anymore."

Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at: jhuang@pressherald.com