Bad News: Childhood Obesity Is Becoming Far More Common



Obesity in early adolescence and childhood has been linked to poor mental health and is frequently a risk factor for chronic illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adults.

A recent study led by Solveig A. Cunningham, Ph.D., and published in Pediatrics found that rates of new cases of obesity in elementary schools are higher and are occurring earlier in childhood than they were even ten years ago. This is despite numerous public health initiatives to promote healthy behaviors and improve living conditions. The multidisciplinary Emory team includes co-senior authors Michael R. Kramer, Ph.D., K.M. Venkat Narayan, MD, and postdoctoral fellow Rebecca Jones, Ph.D.

The researchers examined which children are most at risk for obesity as well as the ages at which they are most likely to develop it. Data on kindergarten-aged children were compared between the years of 1998 and 2010, and they were followed through the fifth grade. Conclusions apply to all children growing up in the United States since the figures are typical of the entire nation.

The percentage of high school children and young people who were obese or fit the definition of being overweight before they finished elementary school is about 40% nowadays.

Despite public health efforts and measures targeted at avoiding obesity, children born in the 2000s experienced obesity rates at greater levels and at younger ages than children born 12 years earlier.

When compared to non-Black Hispanic kindergarteners from 12 years ago, non-Black Hispanic kindergarteners had a 29 percent greater likelihood of being obese by the fifth grade.

The most economically disadvantaged groups had a 15% higher chance of being obese in primary school.

"These alarming statistics show that the American epidemic of childhood obesity is only getting worse. Our understanding of effective countermeasures also appears inadequate, according to Narayan. "To stop the rise of childhood obesity and its effects in the US and throughout the world, we urgently need an aggressive national plan for multidisciplinary research and public health."

Cunningham continues, "Despite significant efforts made by several parents and governments to improve children's diet, physical activity, and living conditions, we have witnessed an increase in the number of obese children for decades. Has this endeavor been successful? Has obesity finally begun to decline? No, obesity must keep being a top concern in terms of public health, according to our findings.

By EMORY HEALTH SCIENCES

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do You Sleep on Your Back or Side? Here's The Research on 'Optimal' Sleep Positions

Image
William Dement, a renowned sleep researcher at Stanford University, is quoted as saying that after 50 years of study, the only reason he can think of for why we sleep is "because we become sleepy." Sleep certainly matters for our health and wellbeing even though it may be, as one researcher put it, "the sole major habit in quest of a function." Do we, however, have it right? What do studies on sleeping positions say? Is there a proper sleeping position? The majority of people favor sleeping on their side. This is encouraging news because people who sleep on their backs are more likely to have trouble falling asleep or breathing during the night. Most of the time, we have a tendency to shift around quite a bit at night. According to a study involving 664 sleepers, on average, participants slept on their side 54% of the time, their back 37% of the time, and their front 7% of the time. Males are more likely to change positions throughout the night and move their arms, ...
Read more

New DNA Research Unlocks Secrets of Native Rodents’ Rat Race to New Lands

Image
More than 150 different native rodent species from Australia, New Guinea, and Melanesian islands have had their DNA sequenced in recent studies. It provides a fuller understanding of their connections and the circumstances surrounding their expansion throughout the Pacific. The Australian National University's (ANU) Dr. Emily Roycroft, the study's lead author, said native rodents are an interesting but frequently underappreciated evolutionary group. Dr. Roycroft noted that over 150 species in Australia and New Guinea are unique to those regions and include the rakali, sometimes known as the "water rat," which is frequently spotted swimming in the lakes near Canberra. We now know relatively little about the history and development of native rodents, particularly those found in New Guinea. In order to obtain DNA from museum specimens up to 180 years old, including several extinct and secretive species, the study team developed a novel technique. "One Guadalcanal ra...
Read more

A Briefcase-Sized Box Is Already Making Oxygen on Mars

Image
Currently, the Martian atmosphere is in no way hospitable to Earthlings. It is formed primarily of carbon dioxide and is over 100 times less dense than Earth's atmosphere. It would soon stop breathing completely for any individuals who tried to breathe in it. A modest device, about the size of a suitcase, has been consistently extracting breathable oxygen from the Martian atmosphere on that sandy, arid, alien world. In order to manufacture breathing air for a human expedition to the red planet, it is the first demonstration of the processing of in situ resources for human use on another world. Its name is MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Experiment), and it is a device that utilizes electrolysis to separate Martian carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen. It is mounted inside NASA's Perseverance rover. According to the researchers, MOXIE produced oxygen seven times as much between February 2021, when Perseverance arrived, until the end of 2021. Acco...
Read more