With the inaugural National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month now under way in the U.S.,scientists say the childhood obesity problem may be even more widespread than previously thought. Researchers have found that parents tend to underreport their children’s weight; estimates of obesity and body mass index (BMI) based on parent-supplied data may miss one in five obese children, or 21 percent. The study – which was presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine – centered on the measured height and weight of 1,430 children at an orthopedic clinic. Researchers said the parents tended to “overestimate boys’ height and underestimate girls’ height.” Almost half of the parents underestimated their child’s weight, and errors in reporting weight tended to be larger for girls and increase with age.”
During the past four decades, obesity rates have soared among all age groups, increasing more than fourfold among children ages six to 11. More than 23 million children and teenagers (31.8 percent) between the ages of two and 19 are overweight or obese. In response, a number of organizations have joined together to organize the National Council on Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, educating parents, policy makers and others about the problem and encouraging preventive action on childhood obesity. A website includes a toolkit with fact sheets, sample letters to the editor, scripts for public service announcements and other resources.
Do you have questions about low-calorie sweeteners? Want to learn more about maintaining a healthy lifestyle? You asked and we listened. Our resident Registered Dietitians answered the most popular questions about low-calorie sweeteners.
