Obesity among Australian children of pre-school age in decline (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - less Australia for pre-school children are overweight in recent years to the late - 1990s - and social disparities at the risk of obesity of children seem to be shrinking, concludes a new study.

The results, reported in the International Journal of Obesity, offer some rare good news in the global battle of the Ardennes. Young children, researchers say, may well be "among the first to emerge" from the epidemic of obesity.

But, principal investigator Dr. Melanie s. Nichols, of Deakin University in Geelong, Australia, said "the battle is far from over."

Excess books are still common currency among Australian children from the age of 2, Nichols emphasized and kids from lower income are more at risk.

The researchers found that between 1999 and 2007, there was a gradual decrease in the percentage of overweight and obesity 2 and 3 - years in the Australian State of Victoria.

Just more than 15 percent of the 3-and-a-half-year-olds were overweight or obese in 2007, down from 18.5% in 1999. Among 2 years, the rate of crossing of 13.5% to slightly more than 12%.

Most of the decline is due to the decrease in rates of obesity. Among the 3-and-a-half-year-olds, for example, 4.5% were obese in 1999, against less than 3% in 2007.

In addition, the improvement was largely in children of lower income - which meant that social disparities in childhood obesity rates have decreased over time.

While the Australia right?

Nichols said that it was not clear. This seems to be the first finding of a "clear downward trend" in obesity in Australia, she told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

Internationally, studies in the course of the past years have suggested that the rate of obesity in children are at least stabilizing in the United States, in Europe and the Japan.

According to Nichols, the declines observed in this study may be related to government programs started over the last decade to improve the diets of children and to increase their level of activity.

But, she said: "we have nearly enough information to determine if this was the case."

Parents may also deserve some credit. "The period of study also coincided with an increase unprecedented in media coverage and awareness of obesity as an issue", said Nichols. "It may therefore also the parents react to these messages."

But, despite the progress, "there is still an uneven distribution of the burden of obesity" between socioeconomic groups, Nichols has noted, adding that even among children from the age of 2 years, obesity rates remain high.

Parents can do much to ensure that their children have a healthy gain weight, according to Nichols. This includes limiting kids' TV and the computer time and serve as role models by eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and to obtain regular exercises themselves.

But, Nichols added, Government and the food industry should try to facilitate employment of parents - in, for example, cutting of junk food advertising targeting children.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/gNdWVg International Journal of Obesity, online March 22, 2011.

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