Researchers for Academic Pediatrics have revealed that the rate of high obesity among children and teens has tripled since 1976, and then some.
The findings came from a long-term health survey that began more than three decades ago. As of 2004, researchers say, almost 4 percent of American youth, ages 2 through 19, are severely obese. Based on a present-day evaluation, that figure is no less than a 70 percent increase over figures from 1994.
Severe obesity among children means the child has a body mass index in the 99th percentile, given the child’s age and gender. Kids who have the highest risk of becoming obese are from low-income families.
Ethnicity has also proven to be a factor. According to that latest survey, some 6 percent of African-American kids ages 2 to 19 were classified as severely obese, with Mexican-American youth at 5 percent and Caucasians at 3 percent.
Dr. Joseph Skelton of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a lead researcher in the study, noted that the rising obesity problem ties into another, which is the lack of sturdy healthcare among lower-income families, indicating that the youth who have the least medical support are the ones that need it most.
