Alarming trends among American Indian and black girls; what parents and policy makers can do to reduce the risk of obesity and help avoid related diseases.

Sept. 8, 2010 – A new study on childhood obesity by a researcher at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and fellow researchers in California has found the first evidence of a decline in the obesity epidemic for children, but only among certain groups.

While obesity rates declined or reached a plateau for boys and girls in most ethnic groups, American Indian and black girls saw an increase. The results appear in the September issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The study looked at the weight and height of more than eight million students in California. They calculated the body mass index (BMI) for each student based on their weight, height, age and gender in order to categorize students into normal weight, overweight and obese. California school officials began collecting BMI on all fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-grade public school students in 2001 as part of a statewide mandate. Oklahoma does not require BMI scores for students.

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“The prevalence of obesity in children has tripled in the last 30 years. It is a significant concern because obesity is associated with multiple chronic health conditions that increase with the severity of obesity and continue into adulthood,” said Ashley Weedn, M.D., a researcher on the project and pediatrician with OU Medicine. “That’s why this study is so important. A decline gives us hope that there is something we can do. The study is also a call to action to focus on high-risk groups such as American Indian and black girls, who did not show any decline.”

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To conduct the study, researchers divided students into four categories of obesity similar to child growth charts – above the 85^th percentile, above the 95^th percentile, above the 97^th percentile and severely obese at the 99^th percentile, which means the student has a higher BMI than 99 percent of children their age.

The study showed a peak of obesity for all groups combined around 2005. The proportion of obese boys in all ethnic groups declined or reached a plateau by 2008 except for the most severely obese. For girls, Hispanic, black and American Indian students had a much higher rate of obesity than whites, and only white girls saw a drop by 2008. The obesity rates for American Indian and black girls have continued to climb.

“Our society has an obligation to our children,” Weedn said. “While we encourage families to make lifestyle changes, the change has to come at a societal and legislative level.”

Weedn and other experts offered a few tips on how to address obesity and keep kids fit.

• Make sure children get at least an hour of physical activity each day;
• Provide more healthful food in school;
• Reduce consumption of sugary drinks;
• Avoid products with high-fructose corn syrup;
• Eat breakfast at home, take lunch to school;
• Eat slower; if finished with first serving, wait 20 minutes, eat a vegetable or meat, if still hungry, wait another 20 minutes and eat a vegetable or sugar-free popsicle;
• Make high-carbohydrate or sugary foods a treat once or twice a week, not daily;
• Improve the quantity and quality of physical education (PE);
• Improve access to more healthful foods in lower-income communities;
• Tax sugary drinks to reduce consumption; similar to tobacco policy.

The research was supported by funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the American Heart Association.

In addition to Weedn, other authors on the paper were Kristine Madsen, M.D., M.P.H., University of California-San Francisco, and Patricia Crawford, Dr.P.H., University of California-Berkeley.

For a copy of the study, go online to http://pediatrics.aappublications.org. For suggested foods and serving size, go to www.mypyramid.gov.

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In Attendance

Ashley E. Weedn, M.D.
Pediatrician
Clinical Assistant Professor in Pediatrics
OU Medicine