OBESITY IN THE USA
Adapted
from www.nytimes.com
Last
Tuesday federal health authorities reported a 43 percent drop in the
obesity rate among 2- to 5-year-old children over the past decade.
The drop emerged from a major federal health survey that experts say
is the gold standard for evidence on what Americans weigh. The trend
came as a welcome surprise to researchers. New evidence has shown
that obesity takes hold young: children who are overweight or obese
at 3 to 5 years old are five times as likely to be overweight or
obese as adults. This is the first broad decline in an epidemic that
often leads to lifelong struggles with weight and higher risks for
cancer, heart disease and stroke. A smattering of states have
reported modest progress in reducing childhood obesity in recent
years, and last year the federal authorities noted a slight decline
in the obesity rate among lowincome children. But the figures on
Tuesday showed a sharp fall in obesity rates among all 2- to 5-
year-olds, offering the first clear evidence that America’s
youngest children have turned a corner in the obesity epidemic. There
was little consensus on why the decline might be happening, but many
theories. Children now consume fewer calories from sugary beverages
than they did in 1999. More women are breast-feeding, which can lead
to a healthier range of weight gain for young children. Federal
researchers have also chronicled a drop in overall calories for
children in the past decade, down by 7 percent for boys and 4 percent
for girls, but health experts said those declines were too small to
make much difference. Barry M. Popkin, a researcher at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has tracked American food
purchases in a large data project, said families with children had
been buying lowercalorie foods over the past decade, a pattern he
said was unrelated to the economic downturn. He credited those
habits, and changes in the federally funded Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, for the decline in
obesity among young children. The program, which subsidizes food for
low-income women, reduced funding for fruit juices, cheese and eggs
and increased it for whole fruits and vegetables. Another possible
explanation is that some combination of state, local and federal
policies aimed at reducing obesity is starting to make a difference.
Michelle Obama, the first lady, has led a push to change young
children’s eating and exercise habits and 10,000 child care centers
across the country have signed on. The news announcement from the
C.D.C. included a remark from Mrs. Obama: “I am thrilled at the
progress we’ve made over the last few years in obesity rates among
our youngest Americans.
