Shaquille O'Neal (centre) stars in 'Shaq's Big Challenge', premiering Tuesday night at 8 on ABC.

Any kid who was ever picked on would relish this moment. The really big man asks the boy if anyone harasses him. The obese middle-school student points to an older kid who teases him, saying he's fat.

Shaquille O'Neal, all 7 feet and 1 inch of him, calls to the bigger kid. He introduces the bully to "my friend James. Now he's your friend, too." He hugs the bully and moves on.

It's a small moment in ABC's touching summer series Shaq's Big Challenge, premiering Tuesday, June 26. Still, it's so telling of the natural compassion that the NBA champion exudes. The unscripted show focuses on six morbidly obese children in Broward County, Florida, but, of course, they could be anywhere.

The United States' children have become terrifyingly obese, and this is the first generation expected to have shorter life spans than their parents, according to the show. But they can be helped, and O'Neal is determined to do so.

As the father of six children between the ages of 1 and 11, Miami Heat center O'Neal is a natural with kids.

"I love kids, even more than basketball," he says.

He talks to them, never down, and lays out his expectations that they become healthy by exercising and eating right. Children, of course, cannot become healthy on their own; their parents must guide them.

Parents, O'Neal says, "should try to make their kids eat as healthy as possible. At least keep them active. You can't let them eat whatever they want and not keep them active."

He says he understands how society's problems force many children, particularly those in more dangerous neighborhoods, inside.

O'Neal questions why more schools do not mandate physical education, saying that only six per cent of middle schools mandate gym class.

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a non-profit group of physical education teachers, issues a report, 'Shape of the Nation', citing the disturbing reality that no federal law requires physical education.

Precise records are not kept on how gym is taught because states rely on some 16,000 school districts to report what they mandate, says association spokeswoman Paula Kun.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC ) and Prevention found that only 6.4 per cent of middle and junior high schools provide daily physical education classes. The gym teachers association and the CDC recommend children in this age group have 225 minutes a week of physical education.

Supersized junk food meals, hours spent in front of TV and computers, and being driven everywhere have resulted in a quickly growing epidemic of fat children.

The most recent report from the CDC shows that 17.4 per cent of kids between 12 and 19 are overweight. This becomes more shocking when the same data is examined from 40 years ago. In 1963-65, only 4.6 per cent of 12-to 19-year-olds were overweight.

Health problems

These statistics hit home when viewers meet the show's four boys and two girls. O'Neal visits their homes and meets their parents. He is friendly but all business. O'Neal's personal physician and trainer help with the children. He finds a physician who works with morbidly obese children and arranges it so the doctor meets with the kids and their parents, to emphasize what serious health problems loom if they do not change their lifestyles now.

A nutritionist meets with the families, and it is sobering to see how much soda and how few vegetables these kids consume before going on O'Neal's programme.

One mom says that as a single mother, she's strapped for time and allows her son to survive on fast food. She also mentions that when she makes popcorn, she adds two sticks of butter.

To his credit, O'Neal goes on the same diet as his charges. He helps them when they try their first work-outs and tears are shed over not being able to do crunches and push-ups. "Don't get down on yourself," he says. "Pick your head up."

Eight months into the programme, three of the participants say, separately, that their lives have changed dramatically. The show's publicist asked us not to divulge their weight losses so as not to spoil the ending of the six-week show.

Overweight people

"It's been a big change because I never used to eat healthy," participant Chris says. "I never used to work out, and I never used to care about my weight. And they put it in perspective for me that I need to change my life."

Walter, who once spent his free time playing video games and eating junk food, says, "I switched from beef to turkey, and I am definitely eating more vegetables."

The most enthusiastic change comes from Ariel.

"I have seen such a difference," she says of her slimmer body, that even friends don't recognise her. "People I haven't seen in a long time - there is no recognition at all!It makes me feel amazing, and that I could take on the world."

Like so many overweight people, Ariel used to hide in baggy clothes.

"Now I am wearing tight jeans, and I actually wore a dress," she says. "I used to never wear a dress. Wearing a dress would have been death to me, and now that I have more confidence, I can wear things I never thought I would wear at all because of the programme."

Ariel, who starts high school in the fall, says she wants other girls to know there is hope. "Mostly, this sort of thing comes on from emotional stress," Ariel says of overeating. "Don't let things get you down. Don't let things bother you. Learn from mistakes. Always think positive."

- Jacqueline Cutler, Zap2it