Childhood Obesity - Do you have an overweight child? We offer tips to help your child lose weight and get fit!

Despite expensive government interventions, Great Britain is not gaining ground in its battle against childhood obesity.

A new report finds that 25% of British children are obese or overweight at age five - a figure that climbs to 33% by the time the children turn 10.

"These latest figures are cause for concern," said Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum. "We had high hopes that there would have been a marked improvement after all the money that is being thrown at the problem."

Dawn Primarolo, British Public Health Prime Minister, commented, "If we do nothing, 90% of today's children could be overweight or obese by 2050."

Labels: research, overweight children, statistics

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

After 25 years of steady increases, 2005-2006 saw the first leveling off of obesity rates among U.S. children. The rate is still high, at 32 percent, but remained the same as 2003-2004.

"Some experts said that if the leveling-off is real, it could be because more schools and parents are emphasizing better eating habits and more exercise."

Experts also warn that it's too early to celebrate. The next few years will be good indicators as to whether the leveling off is genuine or was simply an anomaly. Source: The Associated Press

Labels: obesity_rates, statistics, encouragment

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

Obesity among American children is on the increase, but only in certain parts of the country, according to a study that appeared in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

• Children who live in Oregon actually showed a 32% decline in obesity between 2003 and 2007.
• Utah had the lowest rate at 23% .
• Arizona, Illinois and Mississippi showed increases in obesity rates as high as 45% during that same period.
• The Southeast had the highest incidence of obesity and overweight children.

 

Labels: statistics, states

Posted By: My Overweight Child 1 Comment

Experts believe the rate of childhood obesity in the United States may be even worse than government statistics indicate, because one in five parents underestimates their children's weights, according to new research presented at the annual meeting of American College of Sports Medicine.

• Professors Daniel O'Connor and Joseph Gugenheim studied the heights and weights of 1,430 children, and then compared them with the values their parents reported.
• Their findings indicate that 21 percent of the parents did not correctly identify their children as obese.

"Parents tend to overestimate boys' height and underestimate girls' height," said Dr. O'Connor. "This error was larger when the reporting parents was the opposite sex of the child. Almost half of the parents underestimated their child's weight, and errors in reporting weight tended to be larger for girls and increase with age."
 

Labels: statistics

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 3 Comments