CDC and USDA Report Improvement in Childhood Obesity for Children Enrolled in WIC
According to the agencies, 34 state agencies have reported decreases.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that obesity among low-income individuals enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) decreased from 15.9 percent in 2010 to 14.5 percent in 2014, and 34 of the 56 WIC state agencies also reported decreases in obesity among children.
"We are beginning to see some progress reducing childhood obesity in some areas, but more progress is needed," said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, M.D., MPH. "Only by accelerating and sustaining this trend can we reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity."
The data comes by way of a study released by CDC and the USDA in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a CDC publication.
Depending on the state, obesity numbers could change fairly drastically. Virginia had a 20 percent obesity rate while Utah had an 8.2 percent rate. In 2009, the USDA redesigned the WIC packages to more closely resemble the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, to which the agency attributed the decrease in obesity.