Canada making progress in fight against child obesity for first time in a decade
Posted May 15, 2016 05:24:14 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
New numbers show Canada could be turning the corner in the war on childhood obesity.
It has been more than a decade since we last saw rates drops, according to Dr. Celia Rodd with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, one of the doctors behind the findings.
“Children now have a plateaued rate of obesity of 13 per cent from 2004 to 2013. For the children who are considered to be overweight or obese — both categories — there’s actually a significant decline from 30.7 per cent down to 27 per cent,” says Rodd.
She calls it “really encouraging news.”
“Children are leaner… especially compared to other countries, Canadian children are plateauing in their obesity rates,” says Rodd.
“These changes have happened in just over a decade and that’s why it was so encouraging that we’ve been able to make such important changes. We would like to see the obesity rate decline. It’s probably harder to change for a child who is significantly overweight in the obesity category to sort of bring them down into the normal zone. But I think it’s really encouraging and we need to keep doing what we’re doing and not be complacent, either.”
Rodd says more awareness around the issue has helped turn things around, but admits many adolescents are still extremely inactive.
She notes Canada is doing very well, especially compared to the United States, which is seeing those very same rates continue to climb.
