A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that there are more kids and teens in America suffering from obesity now, and for those who are in low-income communities, it is still on the rise.
According to LiveScience, the report shows that 17.5 percent of children and adolescents aged three to 19 are now suffering from obesity, compared to the low rate of 5.6 percent obese kids and teens in the late 1970s. The researchers also found out there was a 0.9 percent increase in the number of obese children since 2004, which meant that the prevalence of childhood obesity leveled off in recent years.
Michael Goran of the Childhood Obesity Research Center at the University of Southern California, who was not involved with the CDC report, said that the findings do not paint the whole picture regarding obesity rates in the U.S. as the rates may differ in some groups.
Goran said that in low-income communities, particularly those with Hispanic and African-American backgrounds as the majority, the obesity rates are still getting higher.
"Given that the prevalence is much, much higher in lower-income populations than [in] affluent populations, you have to believe that it has something to do with the particular environments of those low-income populations," he said.
Goran adds that sugar is a major contributing factor in the high prevalence of obesity in low-income communities as sugary foods and beverages tend to be introduced very early into the child's diet.
HealthDay reports that although Canada and the U.S. have had the same rate of increase in obesity in the late 1970s, current statistics show that American children are fatter; there are only 13 percent obese children and teens (of the same age) in Canada, according to the CDC.
Peter Katzmarzyk from the Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge said that these findings could open up new fields of obesity research, given that the U.S. and Canada share a common language and some cultural aspects.
"There are a number of factors that could be contributing to this difference, but no one's really done a study to uncover what those factors are," said Katzmarzyk. "It gives us an opportunity to explore why these differences are and maybe lead us to some interventions."
CNN reports that Barry Popkin, distinguished professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, said that there is a hopeful note in this report, as childhood obesity rates have plateaued in both the U.S. and Canada - but it will take effort to let the rates go down.
