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A new study offers hope that California may finally be getting a handle on its 30-year battle with childhood obesity, but it also showcases a patchwork of progress that leaves the majority of the state's counties still registering increases in obesity rates among school-age children.
According to the study, "A Patchwork of Progress: Changes in Overweight and Obesity Among California 5th, 7th and 9th Graders, 2005," prepared by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA), the percentage of overweight and obese children in the state dropped 1.1 percent from 2005 to 2010. However, 38 percent of children are still affected - a rate nearly three times higher than it was 30 years ago, when the obesity epidemic began.
Even more concerning, according to the lead author of the study, UCLA's Susan Babey, Ph.D., is that improvements are not being seen statewide.
"Children's health is still at risk in a significant number of counties," Babey said. "We found that 31 of California's 58 counties experienced an increase in childhood overweight over the five-year period from 2005 to 2010. We hope this county-by-county analysis will help community leaders pinpoint and take action in counties in the greatest danger."
The highest rates in the state were found in Imperial (46.9 percent), Colusa (45.7 percent), Del Norte (45.2 percent) and Monterey (44.6 percent) counties. Two of those counties, Del Norte and Colusa, also had the dubious distinction of having the highest increases over the last five years (16.2 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively).
