Episode 41 - Article Review: Childhood Obesity Rates Increased During Covid19 Pandemic and What to Do About It

In this 17 minute podcast we discuss two articles. The first is about a recent study published by the CDC that found that childhood obesity rates increased during our pandemic. The second is article that discusses recommendations to help children develop healthy eating habits. Here is the first article: https://www.ksl.com/article/50243221/study-childhood-obesity-in-us-accelerated-during-pandemic Here is the second article: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/index.html. Link to 7 day stress eating course. Our takeway is if a child has obesity, you want them to maintain their current weight, and let them naturally progress through growth. We also want children to get into the habit of exercise and to avoid the mentality of diet culture.

In the first article, they found the following:

An estimated 22% of children and teens were obese last August, up from 19% a year earlier.
Before the pandemic, children who were a healthy weight were gaining an average of 3.4 pounds a year. That rose to 5.4 pounds during the pandemic.
For kids who were moderately obese, expected weight gain rose from 6.5 pounds a year before the pandemic to 12 pounds after the pandemic began.
For severely obese kids, expected annual weight gain went from 8.8 pounds to 14.6 pounds.

The rate of obesity increased most dramatically in kids ages 6 to 11, who are more dependent on their parents and may have been more affected when schools suspended in-person classes, the researchers said.

The research was based on a review of the medical records of more than 432,000 kids and teens, ages of 2 to 19, who were weighed and measured at least twice before the pandemic and at least once early in the pandemic.