The largest study of childhood obesity ever conducted in New York City has revealed that 40 percent of kindergartners through eighth-graders in this town, or more than 250,000 kids, are fat! But not actually that fat: Eighteen percent are just heavy enough to be called “overweight,” though a scary 22 percent are, in fact, obese. The study doesn’t extend past eighth-graders, so we don’t know if high school convinces groups of city kids to shed the pounds.
A closer look at the study reveals, unsurprisingly, that kids in Manhattan’s tony neighborhoods are thinner. The skinniest Zip in the whole city is the Upper West Side, where a mere one percent of kids are obese and 86 percent are at healthy weights. However, in the Queens neighborhood Corona, more than half of kids are overweight by this study’s standards. Experts say New York’s rate of obesity is actually flatlining, though, while it’s rising nationwide. Parents are blaming sugary drinks.
Big study of childhood obesity shows 40% of New York City students are too heavy [NYDN]
40% of NYC students are too fat: study [NYP]
