Current:Home > FinanceStudy bolsters evidence that severe obesity increasing in young US kids -BeyondProfit Compass
Study bolsters evidence that severe obesity increasing in young US kids
View
Date:2025-04-13 07:20:12
NEW YORK (AP) — A new study adds to evidence that severe obesity is becoming more common in young U.S. children.
There was some hope that children in a government food program might be bucking a trend in obesity rates — earlier research found rates were dropping a little about a decade ago for those kids. But an update released Monday in the journal Pediatrics shows the rate bounced back up a bit by 2020.
The increase echoes other national data, which suggests around 2.5% of all preschool-aged children were severely obese during the same period.
“We were doing well and now we see this upward trend,” said one of the study’s authors, Heidi Blanck of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We are dismayed at seeing these findings.”
The study looked at children ages 2 to 4 enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides healthy foods and other services to preschool-aged children in low-income families. The children were weighed and measured.
The researchers found that 2.1% of kids in the program were severely obese in 2010. Six years later, the rate had dipped to 1.8%. But by 2020, it was 2%. That translates to about 33,000 of more than 1.6 million kids in the WIC program.
Significant increases were seen in 20 states with the highest rate in California at 2.8%. There also were notable rises in some racial and ethnic groups. The highest rate, about 2.8%, was in Hispanic kids.
Experts say severe obesity at a very early age is nearly irreversible, and is strongly associated with chronic health problems and an early death.
It’s not clear why the increase occurred, Blanck said.
When WIC obesity rates dropped, some experts attributed it to 2009 policy changes that eliminated juice from infant food packages, provided less saturated fat, and tried to make it easier to buy fruits and vegetables.
The package hasn’t changed. But “the daily hardships that families living in poverty are facing may be harder today than they were 10 years ago, and the slight increases in the WIC package just weren’t enough,” said Dr. Sarah Armstrong, a Duke University childhood obesity researcher.
The researchers faced challenges. The number of kids in WIC declined in the past decade. And the study period included 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic hit, when fewer parents brought their children in to see doctors. That reduced the amount of complete information available.
Despite it’s limitations, it was a “very well done study,” said Deanna Hoelscher, a childhood obesity researcher at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, “It gives you a hint of what’s going on.”
What’s happened since 2020 is not yet known. Some small studies have suggested a marked increase in childhood obesity — especially during the pandemic, when kids were kept home from schools, eating and bedtime routines were disrupted and physical activity decreased.
“We are thinking it’s going to get worse,” Hoelscher said.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
veryGood! (8915)
Related
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Focus on the ‘Forgotten Greenhouse Gas’ Intensifies as All Eyes Are on the U.S. and China to Curb Pollution
- Catherine Zeta-Jones celebrates Michael Douglas' 80th birthday 'in my birthday suit'
- Nebraska to become 17th Big Ten school to sell alcohol at football games in 2025 if regents give OK
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- The Surprising Way Today’s Dylan Dreyer Found Out About Hoda Kotb’s Departure
- Baltimore longshoremen sue owner and manager of ship that caused the Key Bridge collapse
- New judge sets expectations in case against man charged with killing 4 Idaho university students
- Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
- Alan Eugene Miller becomes 2nd inmate in US to be executed with nitrogen gas
Ranking
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- Brett Favre Parkinson's diagnosis potentially due to head trauma, concussions
- Melania Trump calls her husband’s survival of assassination attempts ‘miracles’
- Indicted New York City mayor could appear before a judge Friday
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
- Safety board says pedals pilots use to steer Boeing Max jets on runways can get stuck
- Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose announces retirement
- Alan Eugene Miller becomes 2nd inmate in US to be executed with nitrogen gas
Recommendation
Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes Are True Pretties During 2024 People's Choice Country Awards Date Night
Carly Pearce Weighs In on Beyoncé’s Country Music Association Awards Snub
Philadelphia’s district attorney scores legal win against GOP impeachment effort
Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
Pink Shuts Down Conspiracy Theory About Sean Diddy Combs Connection
Takeaways on AP’s story about challenges to forest recovery and replanting after wildfires
UCLA baseball team locked out of home field in lawsuit over lease involving veteran land