Child obesity plateaus

Thursday, May 29, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

Federal data suggest that incidents of childhood obesity may have hit a plateau, but researchers aren’t certain whether credit for that trend lies in recent efforts to decrease weight gain among children.

The data, gathered from 1999 to 2006 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The figures show that 6.5 percent of children ages 6 to 11 were considered obese in 1980, a number that rose to 11.3 percent by 1994. In 2002, the CDC says, 16.3 percent of children were obese, but since that time the figure seems to have leveled off at about 17 percent.

Obesity and child health experts told The New York Times they are assessing the report with guarded optimism, as it is still too soon to determine whether the lull is merely a temporary blip.

Though some community and school programs dedicated to improving children’s diets and increasing physical activity levels have had some successes, the national plateau still could be one that would have occurred naturally whether or not such programs had been created, Cynthia Ogden, lead author of the CDC report, told the Times.

What’s more, some experts said, there is a fear that a plateau in the numbers — whether permanent or temporary — will result in an assumption that the problem has been contained and that funding for obesity prevention programs should decrease.

It would be a mistake to allow emphasis on such programs to wane. CDC figures show that the 17 percent of children who are obese are among the 32 percent of children nationwide who are considered overweight.

We cannot be satisfied with a situation in which one-third of an entire generation could be facing a lifetime of weight-related health problems. We should aim for a decline by continuing to encourage healthy diets and plenty of exercise for children.