NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y.—New data published in the journal Childhood Obesity reveals growing public awareness of the U.S. childhood obesity epidemic is contributing to overall reductions in body mass index (BMI) in kids.
Obesity in children is a serious health problem in the United States that can persist as children grow older and can affect the quality and longevity of their adult lives. Nearly one in 10 infants and toddlers under age 2 are overweight, and one in five children between age 2 and 5 are overweight or obese, according to a recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that calls for childhood obesity prevention to begin shortly after birth.
To investigate the effects of a public health intervention strategy for lowering BMI among kids, a team of researchers conducted the HEALTHY study of 6,300 multi-ethnic middle school students from 42 schools. Half of the schools participating underwent no changes (the control group), while the other half (the intervention group) instituted changes in their nutritional and physical education programs as well as promotional events and educational activities intended to bring about behavior change. The researchers found the BMI decreased by more than 4% for both groups of students from the start of 6th grade to the end of 8th grade.
"In a research study, we of course want to see a difference between intervention and control groups," says David L. Katz, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief of Childhood Obesity and Director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. “But both groups doing well is clearly a good problem to have. The news about weight trends in children has been all bad for a long time—this study suggests that an aggregation of awareness, policies, and programs may be starting to change that."
