Childhood abdominal obesity rates are becoming steady after increasing dramatically over the past decades, according to a new study conducted by University of Minnesota researchers shows.
The report looked at the size and weight of children between the ages of 6 and 18. Using data collected from a compendium of other health studies, researchers calculated the average abdominal obesity (the ratio of waistline to height) of children over the eight years leading up to 2012.
"Kids are not getting fatter," said researcher Lyn Steffen, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "Abdominal obesity has been stable over the years."
Abdominal obesity fell significantly among children aged 2 to 5 years during that time frame, the study found. But one-third of kids aged 6 to 18 years remain abdominally obese -- "too many," Steffen said. "We shouldn't have chubby kids or chubby adults either."
Some age groups are losing weight. For children between ages 2 and 5, abdominal obesity actually saw a significant decrease in prevalence. Still, researchers say, with a third of kids between ages 6 and 18 years remaining obese, the news isn't good, though it's not quite so hopeless.
While abdominal obesity has stabilized among all children and adolescents, the rate has actually decreased significantly among 2 to 5 year olds, according to the study.
Abdominal obesity is defined by two measures: waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio. Children with a waist circumference greater than the sex- and age-specific 90th percentile, or with a waist-to-height ratio of 0.5, are considered abdominally obese, according to the report.
