27% High-Income Babies, 40% Low Income Face Obesity

Der Fruchteiranz | Peter Paul RubensRedTracker| We have very distressing news about overweight babies in America. Today’s reality is probably worse than reported in Wayne State University researcher Brian Moss’s analysis of about 7,500 children born in 2001 and part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort.

Without an accepted measure of obesity in very young children, the research determined that kids were at risk for becoming obese if their weight was in the 85th to 95th percentile on standard growth charts. Babies and 2-year-olds whose weight was above the 95th percentile were already considered to be obese.

Using this criteria, the Moss-led group concluded that around 32% of the children were either at risk for becoming obese or were obese at the age of 9 months and 34% were at risk or obese by the age of 2.

Forty-four percent of babies who met the study’s definition of obese remained obese at age 2.  The overall percentage of children considered obese increased from 17% at 9 months to 20% at age 2.

Children living in low-income families and Hispanic children in particular, had the highest risk for obesity at both time points. At age 2, 40% of children living in the lowest income homes were obese or at risk for obesity, compared to 27% of children living in the highest income homes.

40% of Hispanic children were obese or at risk, compared to 31% of whites and 35% of blacks. NONE of these numbers are good, and certain not 27% of chilren living in the highest income homes. via Web MD

Update on Fri, December 31, 2010 by Anne

Anne here, trying to compare these distressing statistics to children in other countries. Here is a 2007 article about Sweden. The obesity epidemic is not as serious, as I assumed, but even in Sweden four-year-old girls are six times more likely to be obese than they were 20 years ago, and 10-year-olds five times more likely. It’s a good article.