NEW YORK |
(Reuters Health) - Fewer Australian preschoolers are overweight in recent years compared with the late-1990s -- and the social disparities in children's obesity risk seem to be shrinking, a new study finds.
The results, reported in the International Journal of Obesity, offer some rare good news in the global battle of the bulge. Young children, the researchers say, could well be "among the first to emerge" from the obesity epidemic.
But, added lead researcher Dr. Melanie S. Nichols, of Deakin University in Geelong, Australia, "the battle is far from over."
Excess pounds are still common among Australian children as young as 2, Nichols pointed out, and lower income kids remain at greater risk.
The researchers found that between 1999 and 2007, there was a gradual decline in the percentage of overweight and obese 2- and 3-year-olds in the Australian state of Victoria.
Just over 15 percent of 3-and-a-half-year-olds were overweight or obese in 2007, down from 18.5 percent in 1999. Among 2-year-olds, the rate dipped from 13.5 percent to just over 12 percent.
Most of the decline was due to decreasing rates of obesity. Among 3-and-a-half-year-olds, for example, 4.5 percent were obese in 1999, versus just under 3 percent in 2007.
What's more, the improvement was largely among lower income children -- which meant that the social disparities in early-childhood obesity rates have narrowed over time.
So what is Australia doing right?
Nichols said it's not clear. This appears to be the first finding of a "clearly decreasing trend" in obesity in Australia, she told Reuters Health in an e-mail.
Internationally, studies in recent years have suggested that childhood obesity rates are at least stabilizing in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
According to Nichols, the declines seen in this study could be related to government programs begun over the past decade to improve children's diets and boost their activity levels.
But, she said, "We don't have nearly enough information to determine whether that was the case."
Parents may also deserve some credit. "The period of the study also coincided with unprecedented increases in media coverage and public awareness of childhood obesity as an issue," Nichols said. "So it may also be that parents are responding to these messages."
But despite the progress, "there is still an uneven distribution of the burden of obesity" between socioeconomic groups, Nichols noted, adding that even among children as young as 2 years, obesity rates remain high.
Parents can do a lot to ensure their children have a healthy weight gain, according to Nichols. That includes limiting kids' TV and computer time, and serving as role models by eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and getting regular exercise themselves.
But, Nichols added, government and the food industry should try to make parents' job easier -- by, for instance, cutting out junk food ads aimed at kids.
SOURCE: bit.ly/gNdWVg International Journal of Obesity, online March 22, 2011.
