A new study adds to the evidence that severe obesity is becoming more common in US children.
There is some hope that children in government food programs might buck the trend in obesity rates – earlier studies found rates had fallen slightly over the past decade for those children.
But an update released Monday in the journal Pediatrics shows that rate rebounding slightly by 2020.
This increase mirrors other national data, which show about 2.5% of all preschool children are severely obese during the same period.
“We’re doing well and now we’re seeing this upward trend,” said one of the study’s authors, Heidi Blanck of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We are disappointed to see these findings.”
The study looked at 2- to 4-year-olds enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides healthy meals and other services to preschoolers in low-income families.
The study looked at children ages 2 to 4 enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program. ZUMAPRESS.com
The child is weighed and measured.
The researchers found that 2.1% of children in the program were severely obese in 2010.
Six years later, that rate has dropped to 1.8%.
But by 2020, it will be 2%. That translates to about 33,000 of the more than 1.6 million children in the WIC program.
Significant increases were seen in 20 states with the highest rate in California at 2.8%. There were also significant increases in some racial and ethnic groups.
The highest rate, about 2.8%, is in Hispanic children.
This increase mirrors other national data, which show about 2.5% of all preschool children are severely obese during the same period. Shutterstock / Leeferin
Experts say severe obesity at a very early age is almost irreversible, and is strongly linked to chronic health problems and early death.
It’s unclear why the increase occurred, Blanck said.
When WIC obesity rates dropped, some experts attributed it to a 2009 policy change that eliminated juice from baby food packages, provided less saturated fat, and tried to make it easier to buy fruits and vegetables.
The package has not changed. But “the daily difficulties faced by families living in poverty may be more difficult today than they were 10 years ago, and a small increase in the WIC package is not enough,” said Dr. Sarah Armstrong, Duke University childhood obesity researcher.
Researchers face challenges. The number of children on WIC has declined over the past decade. And the study period included 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic hit, when fewer parents took their children to the doctor.
That reduces the amount of complete information available.
Despite the limitations, it’s a “very well-done study,” said Deanna Hoelscher, a childhood obesity researcher at UTHealth Houston’s School of Public Health, “It gives you an indication of what’s going on.”
What has happened since 2020 is still unknown. Several small studies have suggested a significant increase in childhood obesity – especially during epidemics, when children are not allowed home from school, meal and bedtime routines are disrupted and physical activity is reduced.
“We thought it was going to be worse,” Hoelscher said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
