Childhood Overweight Brief Now AvailableJune 23, 2008 |
Printer-friendly version |
 In Los Angeles County more than 550,000 parents and children under 5 are served monthly by the federal nutrition program, WIC. In 2005 First 5 LA partnered with PHFE WIC, the county's largest WIC organization, to survey these participants. With two earlier research briefs, the WIC/First 5 LA DataMining Project has now released it's third, Preventing Early Childhood Overweight. Childhood overweight is the commonly accepted term to describe excessive weight in children. Statistics in Preventing Early Childhood Overweight revealed the number of overweight 4 year olds rose 3.5 percent from 2003-2006, to total 20.7 percent, with Latino children showing the highest rates of childhood overweight and the most drastic rise. Also, more than half of the mothers whose children were overweight perceived their child's weight to be "about right." This attitude, according to the report, could hinder overweight prevention efforts. Lower breastfeeding rates for overweight children also suggest that breastfeeding can be a low-cost strategy in the prevention of childhood overweight, which is consistent with other research findings. The brief provides other related findings and prevention strategies for providers and policymakers. For example, almost half of the 3 and 4 year olds watch television an average 1-2 hours per day and almost 30 percent watch 3-5 hours per day. Prevention strategies include reducing time watching TV and increasing physical activity. In addition, WIC will be adopting a new food package in 2009 that will include fruits, vegetables and low-fat milk, which falls in line with the weight reduction recommendations. The brief will be mailed to First 5 LA and WIC stakeholders in the coming weeks, along with Breastfeeding Practices in WIC Participants, and another brief published by the UCLA Center for Improving Child Care Quality, Latino Families Value Early Education. Click here to download the brief or contact Katie M. Kurutz at kkurutz@first5la.org to be added to our mailing list. |
|
