And I thought obesity was going to shorten our kids lives….

For years we’ve heard that we are all too fat, that we’re killing ourselves.  Worse, we as parents are killing our kids because of obesity.

Then how do the Nanny Police explain this:

US life expectancy tops 78 as top diseases decline

For the first time, U.S. life expectancy has surpassed 78 years, the government reported Wednesday, although the United States continues to lag behind about 30 other countries in estimated life span.

The increase is due mainly to falling mortality rates in almost all the leading causes of death, federal health officials said. The average life expectancy for babies born in 2006 was about four months greater than for children born in 2005.

Japan has the longest life expectancy — 83 years for children born in 2006, according to World Health Organization data. Switzerland and Australia were also near the top of the list.

"The international comparisons are not that appealing, but we may be in the process of catching up," said Samuel Preston, a University of Pennsylvania demographer. He is co-chairman of a National Research Council panel looking at why America’s life expectancy is lower than other nations’.

The new U.S. data, released Wednesday, come from the National Center for Health Statistics. It’s a preliminary report of 2006 numbers, based on data from more than 95 percent of the death certificates collected that year.

Life expectancy is the period a child born in 2006 is expected to live, assuming mortality trends stay constant.

Look, I carry extra pounds, no doubt about it. As I often say, it’s not that I overeat, I’m under exercised.  Yet, every time I hear that commercial that says "We may be the first generation that has our kids living shorter lives than their parents."

I guess the above information puts that bit of hyperbole to rest…