That's Fit

There's new evidence the childhood obesity epidemic may be leveling off. The past three decades have been an utter disaster in terms of childhood obesity, with the percentage of obese six-to-11-year-olds rising from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 16.3 percent in 2002. Currently, 32 percent of American schoolchildren are overweight or obese.

After analyzing 1999-2006 survey data, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the level of overweight and obese schoolchildren in America has plateaued at around 32 percent. The rates have remained constant for the first time in 45 years. It's not clear whether kids have simply gotten as heavy they're going to get under current lifestyle habits or if family, school and community interventions to eat right and exercise are making a difference. Some wonder whether a 'fat ceiling' could be a false ceiling -- researchers acknowledge more time and data are required before the obesity rate is definitively deemed stable.

As a fan of fitness and nutrition, I'd like to think advocacy for healthier living is strongly pushing back against obesity's four-decade rising tide. But that's the optimist in me. The hearts of advocacy organizations such as The Alliance for a Healthier Generation must be enjoying a lighthearted moment right now -- AHG's immediate goal was to halt the rise of childhood obesity by 2010. But the moment must be brief as our nation has an immense amount of work to do -- 32 percent is no number to celebrate. In the 1960s, childhood obesity stood in the single digits.

'Plateaued', 'leveled off', 'not rising' -- nice words, but do they represent a stall in obesity rates or a real turn toward a downward trend? In order to know we are truly making a difference in the health and welfare of our nation's children we need to start hearing the words 'lowering', 'dropping', even 'plummeting'. Without a serious drop in the current prevalence of childhood obesity, over one-third of our nation's children are poised for a future wracked with serious health challenges such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.