CDC sees sign of hope for kids

CDC sees sign of hope for kids

Scripps Howard News Service: Finally, there is some modestly good news on childhood obesity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that, after rising steadily every year since 1980, the rate of obesity among children ages 2 to 19 seems to have peaked. The percentage of those overweight or obese remained steady at 32 percent in 2003-2004 and 2005-2006. If that represents a plateau, that’s good. If it represents a turnaround, for which it’s still too soon to tell, that’s even better.

The study is considered representative because a sample of 8,165 children were weighed and measured.

About 15 percent of the children were obese, as opposed to simply overweight, and as a sign of how far we have to go, that figure was 5 percent in 1980. And these children face serious health problems -- heart disease, diabetes, asthma -- as adults.

Some health officials say that instead of progress combating obesity, we may have simply reached a natural level at which every child who is susceptible to obesity is obese. And the fact is that obesity levels for both men and women have held steady after two decades of increases. But attributing that to a natural level seems something of a cop-out.

Surely, the national publicity portraying obesity as a serious public health problem has had some effect. So has the campaign to get fruits and vegetables back in the school lunchroom and fatty foods out, and phys ed back in the curriculum.

The CDC rates indicate the country should try even harder and keep on weighing and measuring.