Child obesity rates dropping

   New evidence suggests the nation is finally turning the corner in the campaign against child obesity.

   Small but significant improvements in obesity rates of low-income preschoolers were counted in 18 states from 2008 to 2011, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden said Tuesday. “This is the first report to show many states with declining rates of obesity in our youngest children after literally decades of rising rates.”

   The CDC analysis looked at rates in 40 states, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories. It excluded 10 states because some had changed how they collected data.

   Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, South Dakota and the U.S. Virgin Islands had the largest decreases in obesity, with a drop of at least 1 percentage point. Rates held steady in 20 states and Puerto Rico. They rose in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

   Researchers analyzed weight and height data of about 11.6 million kids ages 2 to 4 in federally funded maternal- and child-nutrition programs. Data were from the Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System.

   “Although obesity remains epidemic, the tide has begun to turn for some kids in some states,” Frieden says. “While the changes are small, for the first time in a generation they are going in the right direction.”

   Previous research has shown one in eight U.S. preschoolers are obese, the CDC says. Those who are overweight or obese are five times more likely than normal-weight peers to be overweight or obese adults.

   “It’s great news, but it’s too early to say I feel confident that we are securely on the path to improvement,” said pediatrician James Marks of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Results are surprising “because of the speed at which the epidemic appears to be turning around. The highest-risk children in almost half of the states are getting healthier.”

   Frieden cited three positive contributing trends: changes in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which now aligns more closely with U.S. dietary guidelines; more breast-feeding and more programs such as Let’s Move!, an initiative developed by first lady Michelle Obama to tackle childhood obesity.

   highest obesity rates in low-income kids ages 2-4

   16.8%

   California

   16.6%

   New Jersey

   16.6%

   Rhode Island

   16.4%

   Massachusetts

   15.8%

   Connecticut

   SOURCE: CDC, 2011