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If a child is overweight in kindergarten, he or she will probably stay that way, according to a study by researchers at Harvard University. This means that it might be a good idea to help younger children lose their "baby fat." Researchers recorded the weights and heights of 11,910 children at sixteen city schools in Cambridge, MS, every year between 1999 and 2003. They found that 85% of the overweight children remained that way from one year to the next. Of the children "at risk for becoming overweight," 18% put on enough pounds to move into the "overweight" category but 26% managed to achieve healthy weights at later dates. The authors noted that half of all overweight children become overweight adults. The number of overweight children ages 6-11 years has tripled over the past thirty years. These findings suggest that "targeting overweight prevention efforts toward young children and children at risk for becoming overweight" might be a good idea. The research team, led by Dr. Juhee Kim, also experimented with sending home "weight report cards" to parents at four of the schools. The majority of parents told interviewers that they liked receiving the information. However, overweight children whose parents received the reports did not lose weight. Nevertheless, because of this study, the Cambridge Public School System became one of many school districts that continues to send home "weight report cards." The study appears in the September 2005 issues of the American Journal of Public Health.
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