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BIG NEWS

Childhood Obesity Rates Thinning Out, Say Experts

A positive development for kids most at risk for reaching an unhealthy weight

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t

Image: thiakaren.blogspot.com

Despite the impression left by Honey Boo Boo, childhood obesity appears to be on the decline in America.

A national survey of nearly 30 million low-income kids found that their rate of obesity has finally leveled off after decades of growth beginning in the 1980s. And in some major cities, reports Raw Story, the number of kids with an unhealthy weight has actually gone down. The research was carried out by the Centers for Disease Control's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, with the help of - wait for it - the Pediatric Nutritional Surveillance System, an information clearinghouse on children across the US eligible for federal health care.

"These finding may have important health implications because of the lifelong risks of obesity and extreme obesity in early childhood," said the study's designers, who note the turning point that came just shy of a decade ago. Scientific American elaborates:

An important shift in early childhood obesity rates seems to have begun in 2003. Obesity rates increased from 13.05 percent in 1998 to 15.21 percent in 2003. Soon, however, obesity rates began decreasing, reaching 14.94 percent by 2010. Extreme obesity followed a similar pattern, increasing from 1.75 percent to 2.22 percent from 1998 to 2003, but declining to 2.07 percent by 2010.

Via Raw Story and Scientific American.
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Do you expect the good news on childhood obesity rates to continue?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • Zazziness
    !
    I hope so. They say a program like Mrs. Obama's "Let's Move!" program usually takes about a generation to be fully incorporated into general social thinking. I do hope it happens faster than that.
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    woodtick57
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    Back in the 1920's or so, France had an obesity problem and they started teaching school kids about proper portion sizes and healthy foods and they solved the problem in a generation.
  • Zazziness
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    @woodtick57 It should be standard education, I think. It's the type thing parents can't pass down to their kids if they didn't learn it themselves and teaching it in school can break that generational ignorance.
  • Dan_Tien
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    I remember President Kennedy's program to improve physical fitness. It actually started under Eisenhower with the President's Council on Youth Fitness. Now it is called the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Is the generation you are talking about one of those biblical things that could be 20 years or 20 million years?
  • Zazziness
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    @Dan_Tien We did see the impact of that program on society in about a generation. Jogging was unheard of when I was very young but then it became popular. Jogging is no longer a fad but no one is surprised if a fit person is going out jogging. It didn't make the whole population fit but it made more people healthy and aware of fitness than before the program was begun.

  • View all 12 replies >

  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    If childhood obesity is going down, can Michelle stop dictating what the rest of us can eat? And can we let local schools decide what should be served for lunch so kids can stop throwing away unappetizing food? How much money is wasted when food is thrown away and how many American children go hungry throughout the day because the government tries to dictate what they can and can't eat?
  • o
    woodtick57
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    If they are overweight to start with, they're not really going hungry, are they? Perhaps kids throwing a way food just need better parents?
  • Zazziness
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    As for schools "choosing" what kids can be served for lunch? How often do they put in Coke machines because they get a kick back and they need the money? How much does that have to do with ethical care for our children? In fact, how much do you know about this subject at all, other than using it as an excuse to express your usual bias?
  • Zazziness
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    @woodtick57 I'm glad and that is progress. Alice Waters and other chefs have been working really hard to improve school lunches and I think it's really inspiring.

  • View all 28 replies >

  • PNWest
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    Since this is good news and it is happening under the Obama Presidency I'm surprised that none of the conservative posters has called this study, pardon the pun, A BIG FAT LIE!

  • View all 23 replies >

  • jessejaymes
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    One would hope so but from I see out and about in public I seriously do not believe this report. Kids are the size of baby whales at age 4 these days. I've literally met kids I assumed were under 5 because of their height but their weight would convince you they were 12. This report contradicts everything I see every day.
  • o
    woodtick57
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    Do they now have an sntire show on making funof some obese little girl? is that the girl in the header photo?

    and people wonder why I gave up on TV....
  • Zazziness
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    @woodtick57 I've caught it a couple times and it's confusing. The family is in some ways a train wreck. Kids each by a different father, several of them in jail. Mother and children grossly obese. (Though the subject, Honey Boo Boo, has not yet reach monstrous.) But I think its appeal is that they really love each other, as a family. (Or so it appears.) Honey Boo Boo is about as happy a kid as you could wish for, though I was severely concerned when her mother served her Kool-aid with EXTRA sugar. So it's got positives and negatives going on, so you can both approve of the family and feel superior to them at the same time. I don't think you can really make fun of Honey Boo Boo and hurt her feelings. She is the center of attention in that family (being on the child beauty queen pageant circuit) and now she is the center of attention in a whole show. From what I saw, she's loving every moment of camera time.

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  • DARSB
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    I'm holding my applause until some other indicators improve. A drop in the rate of diabetes, for instance, will support the evidence this study offers. In a decade or two we should see a decline in coronary artery disease - if this turns into an actual trend. In the nearer term, lighter kids don't have stress fractures as often (or severely) as obese kids, so rates of ER admissions for that might drop off.

    But we won't know with confidence until clothing manufacturers decide there's not enough money to be made in plus sizes for toddlers...
  • Post Removed by Moderators
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    Avaholic90
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    as long as kids can get outside and play it will go down. but with things like Xbox, PS3 and other electronics kids don't go outside. think about how many kids go out and make a tree house or know of a swimming hole. i can't think of any. One thing i think is the problem is people are afraid of someone taking their child so the parents don't let them leave the yard. i can remember summers where as long as i was home by sundown i could play outside as long as i wanted with all the neighbor kids. i hope like hell that kids start going outside and enjoying their childhoods.
  • o
    woodtick57
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    Too many parents are afraid to let their kids out of their sight. I got my ass chewed by more moms for letting my daughters ride their bikes ALL ALONE to practice in one of the safest cities in the state. people have lots of irrational fears...
  • PoliticalSpice
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    Despite all the right wing complaints about nanny govt., etc it just goes to show that a wide spread education that had been going on for about a decade, has paid off. Now if only i could drop about 20 ponds myself...
  • jessejaymes
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    No sodas, no gravy, one hamburger a week, one fried food "traditional meal" a week. No fast food, candy, cake or chips. Walk the dog for half a mile. Force yourself to eat healthy food you don't like and in a week or two you'll get used to it and start liking it (I did). I dropped right at 40 lbs without any fancy club or trainer or diet. Just cut out what you already know is bad for you.
  • stepped_in_it
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    @jessejaymes Or better yet, cut out what you know you like......LOL. And, you are correct. Nothing fancy about losing weight, just self control and a little exercise.
  • jessejaymes
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    @stepped_in_it LOL More than once I made the comment "everything I like is bad for me". I have a friend who drinks sweet tea. About a gallon a day. And he wonders why he can't lose weight. I drink Ginseng Tea with no sugar. Took me about a month but I almost gag on sweet tea today. I can't believe the amount of sugar people put in their bodies with sweet tea alone.
  • stepped_in_it
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    @jessejaymes Yeah, live in but not from the south. Some of their sweet tea they love I can't stand. And soda....in 55 gallon drums (or so it seems) LOL
  • jessejaymes
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    @stepped_in_it Yup. But the way they figure it is if you can get still get your finger inside a trigger guard you're not obese.

  • View all 32 replies >

  • TheJimmy
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    I can still remember when fat people were ridiculed as freaks but now no one really judges them anymore because they have become the majority. Goes to show what can happen when tolerance gets promoted.
  • Mbjhug
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    and what part of the world do YOU live in? The overweight are still constantly berated and belittled. A lot of it is also things like "Bro, you should put the double cheeseburger down and go work out" where in text is "helpful" (I'll use this term loosely) but the inflection is that of condescending. No, you don't say? That's the key to life I'm missing? Just work out? If it were that easy, I wouldn't be overweight >_>
  • u
    whataGOVwehave
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    @Coolvoter hahaha, not really. Am I happy to see how things are going....no to that too. I would like to meet these experts. I guess its a good spin for the holidays, less fat kids.
  • sittinduck
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    If parents now days would take responsibility for raising their own children the government wouldn't be involved as much as they are today. I agree that public schools should be required to serve balanced meals, but parents should be doing the same at home. Parents should also make their kids get off the computers, games, phones, whatever, and get outside. I feel technology, and lack of parental guidance is responsible for a lot of the obesity in kids today.
  • NormalFlora
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    The most important thing that still needs to be done is to transfer the authorship of the Food Pyramid (or it's most recent iteration) from the Department of Agriculture to the American Medical Association. The USDA is in the business of promoting the consumption of things like wheat, potatoes and corn, which promote diabetes. The AMA is more likely to place the patient's welfare first.
  • u
    crusader
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    I don't think the food pyramid is the problem it is poor parenting chooses and a society with fast food ad's on all the time and fast food restaurant's on every corner. How many people actually follows the guidelines of the food pyramid, I know I do not. Giving the AMA the power of recreating the food pyramid will not change that. Some parents probably don't know the four basic food groups. I don't think the over consumption of wheat potatoes and corn is the cause of obesity or diabetes. Whole grains and vegetables of any kind are much better than what most people live off of.
    Having a more active babysitter than the cartoon network would also reduce childhood obesity.
  • Thegrif
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    Yea but I am thinking of good moms and dads, out of work and living on food stamps, moms making sure those food stamps are used to feed her family as well and as balanced as she can. Moms and dads that say no to junk food so they can strech those food stamps as far as they can. Moms and dads that realize in order to keep little Sally doing well in school a proper diet is a must.
    See I don't think everyone is just cramming pastas down their kids throat, or loading the kid with sugars.
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