Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Study: Childhood Obesity May Be Leveling Off

“The percentage of American children who are overweight or obese appears to have leveled off after a 25-year increase, according to new figures that offer a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dismal battle. ‘That is a first encouraging finding in what has been unremittingly bad news,’ said Dr. David Ludwig, director of an obesity clinic at Children's Hospital Boston, Massachusetts.’ But it's too soon to know if this really means we're beginning to make meaningful inroads into this epidemic. It may simply be a statistical fluke. Overall, roughly 32 percent of children were overweight but not obese, 16 percent were obese and 11 percent were extremely obese, in a study based on in-person measurements of height and weight in 2005 and 2006. Those levels were roughly the same as in 2003-04 after a steady rise since 1980, according to the federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the study.”

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/05/27/obese.kids.ap/

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