The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday reported we’re making some headway against childhood obesity.
The CDC VitalSigns for August reports 19 states and territories recorded decreases in obesity among low-income preschoolers. Twenty states, including Illinois and Indiana, and Puerto Rico held steady, while obesity increased in three states. While that sounds like good news, the CDC says one in eight U.S. preschoolers is obese. And children are five times more likely to be obese as an adult if they are overweight or obese between the ages of 3 and 5.
Here’s how the CDC defines overweight and obese for children 2 to 19 years old:
Overweight is defined as a BMI at or above the 85th percentile and lower than the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex. Obesity is defined as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex.
Wonder how your child measures up against the government’s weight scale? Check out this body mass calculator.
And the CDC report includes some ideas for government, health professionals and parents can do to help.
