by Claudia Boyd-Barrett posted in Parenting

If you struggle to keep your child at a healthy weight you're not alone. Childhood obesity is extremely common in the U.S., a new study shows, and the situation isn't improving.
The news comes as a big disappointment to health officials who had hoped childhood obesity levels were starting to stabilize and even decline among some children, as indicated in a previous study.
But the new research, which draws on the latest national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows no improvement in obesity rates. In fact, the problem is increasing among young children, the study found.
Overall, almost 1 in 5 American children and teens are obese. The latest study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that statistic didn't change when researchers compared survey data collected in 2013 to 2014 with data gathered in 2015 to 2016. Even more alarming, obesity rates among preschoolers went up. For children ages 2 to 5, the obesity rate rose from 9% to 14% during the comparison period, the report found.

Rates of obesity increased with age, especially among girls. More than 40 percent of teens aged 16 to 19 were overweight or obese, according to the study. Among teen girls the rate was closer to half. Additionally, Hispanic and African-American children were more likely to be obese than white children, a trend researchers have long been aware of.
Obesity in childhood is concerning because it tends to continue into adul...