Health News
- Obese Children's Parents Say Kids Are 'about The Right Weight,' Likely Comparing Them To Other Kids Instead Of Growth Standards
Most parents of overweight children consider them to be "about the right weight," which poses a real concern because parents aren't likely to help their children change their behaviors toward weight reduction if they don't recognize there is a...
- Kentucky Ranks Fifth In Obesity And Its High-schoolers Rank First
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Obesity and health problems go hand in hand, and Kentuckians are known for both. Kentucky now has the fifth highest adult obesity rate in the nation, up from ninth last year, and Kentucky's high-school students...
- Study Shows A Decline In Obesity Rates In Preschool Children; Kentucky Ranks 6th In Obesity Among Pre-kindergartners
The rate of obesity in preschool-age children dropped about two-fifths over the past decade, according to a federal health survey published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Betsy McKay reports for the Wall Street Journal. The rate of...
- Study Says Obese Children (kentucky's A Leader In That) May Have Quadruple The Risk Of Having High Blood Pressure As Adults
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News A new study shows that being obese in childhood may quadruple the risk of having high blood pressure risk as an adult, highlighting the need for Kentucky to curb its high rate of childhood obesity. Eighteen percent...
- Overweight People Tend To Cluster With Those Who Are Likewise
The adage "birds of a feather flock together" seems to apply when it comes to the obesity, with a study concluding that overweight people tend to befriend others who are overweight. Obesity also tends to run in families, with obese parents raising...
Health News
Study says overweight kids become overweight teens
If a child is overweight in kindergarten, she probably will be in eighth grade, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And if your baby was heavy at birth, it has a greater chance of being fat.
It found overweight kindergartners had four times the risk of becoming obese by age 14 as those of normal weight. In other words, almost half (45.3 percent) of overweight kindergartners will be obese by the eighth grade.
Kentucky has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the country, tying Mississippi for the highest percentage of youth in grades 9 to 12 that are obese (18 percent). It has the third highest percentage of children ages 10 to 17 who are obese (21 percent), compared to 16.4 percent nationally, says a report from the Kentucky Task Force on Childhood Obesity.
Kentucky children ages 10 to 17 who are considered either overweight or obese is much higher, at 35.7 percent, according to The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
The recent study of more than 7,000 children also found that most weight gain occurred in lower grades, with the greatest increase between first and third grades.
Another finding was that children who weighed 9 pounds or more at birth (12 percent of the population) were more at risk of becoming obese adolescents; more than 36 percent of the high-birth-weight children in the study were obese by 14.
The study suggests that obesity-prevention efforts should be focused on children who are overweight by the age of 5, since they are most susceptible to becoming obese.
It found overweight kindergartners had four times the risk of becoming obese by age 14 as those of normal weight. In other words, almost half (45.3 percent) of overweight kindergartners will be obese by the eighth grade.
Kentucky has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the country, tying Mississippi for the highest percentage of youth in grades 9 to 12 that are obese (18 percent). It has the third highest percentage of children ages 10 to 17 who are obese (21 percent), compared to 16.4 percent nationally, says a report from the Kentucky Task Force on Childhood Obesity.
The recent study of more than 7,000 children also found that most weight gain occurred in lower grades, with the greatest increase between first and third grades.
Another finding was that children who weighed 9 pounds or more at birth (12 percent of the population) were more at risk of becoming obese adolescents; more than 36 percent of the high-birth-weight children in the study were obese by 14.
The study suggests that obesity-prevention efforts should be focused on children who are overweight by the age of 5, since they are most susceptible to becoming obese.
- Obese Children's Parents Say Kids Are 'about The Right Weight,' Likely Comparing Them To Other Kids Instead Of Growth Standards
Most parents of overweight children consider them to be "about the right weight," which poses a real concern because parents aren't likely to help their children change their behaviors toward weight reduction if they don't recognize there is a...
- Kentucky Ranks Fifth In Obesity And Its High-schoolers Rank First
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Obesity and health problems go hand in hand, and Kentuckians are known for both. Kentucky now has the fifth highest adult obesity rate in the nation, up from ninth last year, and Kentucky's high-school students...
- Study Shows A Decline In Obesity Rates In Preschool Children; Kentucky Ranks 6th In Obesity Among Pre-kindergartners
The rate of obesity in preschool-age children dropped about two-fifths over the past decade, according to a federal health survey published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Betsy McKay reports for the Wall Street Journal. The rate of...
- Study Says Obese Children (kentucky's A Leader In That) May Have Quadruple The Risk Of Having High Blood Pressure As Adults
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News A new study shows that being obese in childhood may quadruple the risk of having high blood pressure risk as an adult, highlighting the need for Kentucky to curb its high rate of childhood obesity. Eighteen percent...
- Overweight People Tend To Cluster With Those Who Are Likewise
The adage "birds of a feather flock together" seems to apply when it comes to the obesity, with a study concluding that overweight people tend to befriend others who are overweight. Obesity also tends to run in families, with obese parents raising...