Rise in U.S. childhood obesity flattens out
June 1, 2008
New Scientist
 
The childhood obesity epidemic in the U.S. may have peaked, but its detrimental effects on health have barely begun.

The proportion of U.S. children and adolescents who were unusually heavy for their height rose by about 20 per cent from 1999 to 2004, but didn't change between 2003 and 2006. These latest figures are from Cynthia Ogden and colleagues at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Hyattsville, Maryland, who surveyed 8000 young people (Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 299, p 2401).

Even so, there's no reason to celebrate yet, as the epidemic has peaked at worrying levels: 32 per cent of U.S. children are overweight and 16 per cent are obese.

"The public health toll of childhood obesity will continue to mount," warn Cara Ebbeling and David Ludwig, obesity researchers at the Children's Hospital Boston, in an editorial accompanying the study. "It can take many years for an obese child to develop life-threatening complications." [More]

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