09.21.12
American youngsters have a long way to go to reach new goals for a lower childhood obesity rate, a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine says. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has set a goal of reducing the childhood obesity rate to 14.6% by 2020, which means children ages 2 to 19 would need to eliminate an average of 64 calories a day. Without this reduction in calorie intake, the average child or teen would be nearly 4 pounds heavier in 2020 than a child of the same age in 2007. In addition, more than 20% of youth would be obese, up from 17% currently. The last time the childhood obesity rate in the U.S. was 14.6% was in 2002.
The researchers suggested many policy strategies that could help American youngsters reduce calories: (1) Replacing all sugar-sweetened beverages in school with water and preventing children from drinking additional sugary beverages outside of school could eliminate an average of 12 calories per day; (2) Having children ages 9 to 11 take part in a comprehensive physical-education program could eliminate an average of 19 calories per day; and (3) After-school activity programs for children in kindergarten to fifth grade could eliminate an average of 25 calories per day.