Poorer Older Teenagers Fatter Than Well Off Teenagers, USA
24 May 2006
According to a new study carried out at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, the prevalence of overweight among older teenagers living below the poverty line was about 50% higher than all other older teenagers. This was not the case with teens aged 14 or under.
The researchers found that poorer teenagers tend to skip breakfast more often, consumer more sugary soft drinks, and are more physically inactive when compared to teenagers living above the poverty line.
You can read about this study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Study leader, Richard Miech, said this divergence did not exist at all during the ‘70s and ‘80s. He added that over the past decade teenagers' daily energy totals originating from sugary soft drinks has gone up by 20%.
Various studies carried out over the last couple of years seem to indicate that the percentage of American teenagers who are overweight has doubled in the last three decades. Health experts say there will be an explosion in a few years' time of young adults suffering from diabetes 2, hypertension, sleep apnea and some cardiovascular diseases.
In this study the researchers looked at data on 10,000 children, aged 12-17. They specifically looked at data on the children's height, weight, levels of physical activity, diet and socioeconomic status (family income). Information was gathered from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), dating from as far back as 1971. The definition of living below the poverty line meant that a family's total annual income in 2004 was below $19,157.
They found that the proportion of overweight children among 15-17 year olds was 23% for those living below the poverty line, 14% for those living above the poverty line.
Richard Miech welcomed recent moves to remove sugary drinks from schools. He stressed that parents have to get their children to become more physically active.
Some studies have shown that skipping breakfast contributes to weight gain. A recent study indicated that not getting enough sleep contributes to weight gain in adults. It would be interesting to find out how much sleep America's teenagers are getting each night.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Childhood Obesity Article 
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