Childhood Obesity
Recent statistics
- 43 percent of our third-graders are overweight or obese.
- Our state has the third highest rate of overweight and obese children in the country with nearly one in three children ages 10 to 17 considered overweight or obese.
- Only five in nine (55 percent) middle school students and four in nine (44 percent) high school students meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requirements for recommended physical activity.
- More than two in five of Georgia’s middle school students (44 percent) and high school students (43 percent) watch TV for three or more hours on a school day.
- Only one in five (19 percent) high school students in Georgia consumes five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
- Obese children are three times more likely to be hospitalized than children who are not obese. Obesity-related healthcare costs reach an estimated $2.1 billion a year.
Sources: Georgia Department of Community Health, Division of Public Health and F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009, by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Ways to address the issue
A recent CDC report suggests community strategies, such as:
- Encouraging breast-feeding.
- Improving physical education standards.
- Increasing intake of fruits and vegetables.
- Increasing physical activity.
- Increasing water intake.
- Decreasing intake of sugar-sweetened beverages.
- Decreasing screen time for children.