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Childhood obesity rates have plummeted in New York City according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These levels of weight loss, though not uniform among different demographics, are uniquely high.
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released last week shows that obesity rates have fallen at a rate of 5.5% in NYC from 2006 to 2011. The overall rate has fallen from 21.9% to 20.7%. Children from kindergarten through eighth grade were tested.
When controlling for age, kindergartners, 5-6 years-old, lost the most weight (9.9%). By race, white children lost the most weight (23.6%), and were distantly followed -- in order -- by Asians, blacks and Hispanics (6.6%). Also, the more impoverished lost less weight than the least impoverished.
Earlier this year, California reported a slighter drop in weight (1.1%). Still, California suffers a 38% obesity rate statewide. Meanwhile, a study last year published in the New England Journal of Medicine, saw a 4% drop in childhood weight, as well as a marked change in body mass index and insulin levels among those kids engaged in school programs of healthy food and exercise.
The hypothesis regarding success in New York is its recent push for better nutrition and more exercise in school. Those at risk of obesity are also monitored by school nurses, who notify parents.
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