Childhood Obesity on rise among Poor Kids in US

Childhood obesity begins much sooner than previously thought, especially in low-income, urban families, a new study carried out by the researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggested.

The study, which was published in the Dec. 28 online edition of the American Journal of Public Health, found that more than one-third of low-income urban children are already overweight or obese before they reach the age of three.

In their research, the experts examined the surveys of parents who had children from 1998 to 2000 in 20 large U.S. cities, including Boston. They then focused on 1,976 children whose height and weight were measured at 3 years of age.

After observing their data, the researchers found that, in all, 32 percent of 3-years-old white and African-American children from poor families were overweight or obese, while 44 percent of the low-income Latino children were categorized as either obese or overweight.

In the analysis, which included families who were receiving federal aid to help buy food for children and their mothers, the researchers found that 17 percent of the low-income toddlers fell into the overweight category while 18 percent were classified as obese. In Boston, 14 percent were overweight and 14 percent were classified as obese.

The conclusion of the study that backs the belief that the struggle with obesity often begins in early childhood “is that we're seeing overweight and obesity at younger ages than we thought possible," said lead study author Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, a health and society scholar at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "It's a particular problem in lower-income communities, and it's something we need to keep an eye on and prevent as much as possible."

The researchers also found that the children who took bottles to bed were nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese, and Latino kids were prone to do that than black or white kids. Nearly 14 percent of 3-year-olds in Hispanic households took a bottle to bed.

They also identified links of mother’s obesity with the child. Obese mothers’ children were nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese as kids of normal-weight mothers. Hispanic children of overweight mothers were most likely to be fat, the researchers said.

The experts in their recent research suggest some factors like breast-feeding for at least six months and not allowing children to take a bottle to bed that may help protect the obesity epidemic in children.

Although, some earlier studies have focused on weight problems among very young children, but those studies have covered older children and teenagers and showed high rates of obesity among them.

"There are very few studies of obesity in children this young," said Gary Foster, director of the obesity research center at Temple University School of Medicine. "This study is very important."