第2050期:Study Suggests Obesity Increasing Among US Children

A new study adds to evidence that obesity is becoming more common in young children in America.

一项新的研究进一步证明肥胖在美国幼儿中变得越来越普遍。 

The study appeared in the medical publication Pediatrics. 

该研究发表在医学出版物《儿科》上。 

The findings are similar to other national data, which suggests around 2.5 percent of all preschool-aged children were severely obese during the same period. 

研究结果与其他国家数据类似，表明同期所有学龄前儿童中约有 2.5% 患有严重肥胖。 

One of the study’s writers, Heidi Blanck of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said “We were doing well and now we see this upward trend....We are dismayed at seeing these findings.” 

该研究的作者之一、美国疾病控制与预防中心的海蒂·布兰克 (Heidi Blanck) 表示：“我们做得很好，现在我们看到了这种上升趋势……我们对这些发现感到沮丧。” 

Dismayed is a term that means very worried or disappointed. 

沮丧这个词的意思是非常担心或失望。 

The study looked at children ages 2 to 4 who took part in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. The program gives healthy foods and other services to preschool-aged children in low-income families. The children were weighed and measured. 

该研究以参加妇女、婴儿和儿童 (WIC) 计划的 2 至 4 岁儿童为对象。 该计划为低收入家庭的学龄前儿童提供健康食品和其他服务。 对孩子们进行了称重和测量。 

The researchers found that 2.1 percent of kids in the program were severely obese in 2010. Six years later, the rate had dropped to 1.8 percent. But by 2020, it was 2 percent. That amounts to about 33,000 of more than 1.6 million kids in the WIC program. 

研究人员发现，2010 年该项目中有 2.1% 的儿童严重肥胖。六年后，这一比例下降至 1.8%。 但到 2020 年，这一比例已降至 2%。 这相当于参与 WIC 计划的超过 160 万儿童中的约 33,000 人。 

The study showed major increases in 20 states. California’s was the highest at 2.8 percent. There also were large increases in some racial and ethnic groups. The highest rate, about 2.8 percent, was among Hispanic children. 

该研究显示 20 个州出现大幅增长。 加利福尼亚州最高，为 2.8%。 一些种族和族裔群体的人数也大幅增加。 比例最高的是西班牙裔儿童，约为 2.8%。 

Experts say severe obesity at a very early age is nearly irreversible – meaning the damage is nearly impossible to undo. 

专家表示，很小的时候就严重肥胖几乎是不可逆转的，这意味着这种损害几乎无法挽回。 

Severe obesity is strongly linked with health problems and an early death. 

严重肥胖与健康问题和早逝密切相关。

It is not clear why the increase occurred, Blanck said. 

布兰克说，目前尚不清楚为什么会出现这种增加。 

When WIC obesity rates dropped, some experts suggested 2009 policy changes might be responsible. Those changes took out juice from infant food packages, provided less saturated fat, and tried to make it easier for people to buy fruits and vegetables. 

当 WIC 肥胖率下降时，一些专家认为 2009 年的政策变化可能是原因。 这些变化去掉了婴儿食品包装中的果汁，提供了更少的饱和脂肪，并试图让人们更容易购买水果和蔬菜。 

The package has not changed. But “the daily hardships that families living in poverty are facing may be harder today than they were 10 years ago, and the slight increases in the WIC package just weren’t enough,” said Dr. Sarah Armstrong, a Duke University childhood obesity researcher. 

包没有改变。 但杜克大学儿童肥胖症研究员莎拉·阿姆斯特朗博士表示，“贫困家庭如今面临的日常困难可能比 10 年前更加困难，WIC 计划的小幅增加还不够。” 。 

The researchers faced difficulties. The number of kids in WIC declined in the past ten years. And the study included 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic hit. At the time, fewer parents brought their children in to see doctors. That reduced the amount of complete information available. 

研究人员面临着困难。 过去十年，WIC 的孩子数量有所下降。 该研究涵盖了 2020 年，即 COVID-19 大流行爆发的那一年。 当时，带孩子去看医生的家长越来越少。 这减少了可用的完整信息量。 

Despite its limitations, it was a “very well done study,” said Deanna Hoelscher, a childhood obesity researcher at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She added, “It gives you a hint of what’s going on.” 

UTHealth 休斯顿公共卫生学院的儿童肥胖研究人员迪安娜·霍尔舍 (Deanna Hoelscher) 表示，尽管存在局限性，但这仍然是一项“非常出色的研究”。 她补充道，“它可以让你了解正在发生的事情。” 

What has happened since 2020 is not yet known. Some small studies have suggested an increase in childhood obesity — especially during the pandemic. During the pandemic, kids were kept home from schools. Their eating and bedtime schedules were changed and physical activity decreased. 

2020年以来发生了什么尚不清楚。 一些小型研究表明，儿童肥胖症有所增加，尤其是在大流行期间。 疫情期间，孩子们被留在家里不上学。 他们的饮食和就寝时间发生了变化，体力活动也减少了。 

“We are thinking it’s going to get worse,” Hoelscher said.

“我们认为情况会变得更糟，”霍尔舍说。