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Obesity rates among children decline
Percentage of overweight children drops for first time in 60 years
For the first time since 1947, the number of obese and overweight children in the schools of Copenhagen has fallen.
A study of thousands of Copenhagen children, compiled by the city’s doctors and the Institute for the Preventive Medicine, showed that the percentage of five to eight-year-old boys clinically defined as ‘seriously overweight’ fell from 14 percent in 2002 to 11.6 percent in 2007. For girls, the number fell from 17.8 percent to 15.9 percent during the period.
Kim Fleischer Michaelsen, professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Institute of Human Nutrition, said the ‘massive input from the media and the authorities’ and the ‘focus on a healthy lifestyle’ were likely behind the positive numbers.
The development has especially decreased amongst the youngest of the children, and experts say is especially during these years that children pick up poor eating habits.
There was some bad news from the report, however, as it showed that obesity amongst boys and girls in the 14-to-16 age bracket is still on the rise.
The Copenhagen Post
