Childhood Obesity Frequently Asked Questions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has established guidelines to determine whether a child is considered overweight or obese, based on body mass index (BMI) for age and sex. If your child’s BMI is greater than 85 percent of children who are the same age and same sex (boy or girl), your child is overweight. If the BMI is greater than 95 percent, your child is obese. You can view the CDC's BMI calculator to find out where your child is in terms of weight status.

Keeping a child's weight in the healthy range is a matter of balance between the amount of calories consumed and the amount of calories used. If a child eats more than he/she uses, the result is weight gain. From an early age, children can learn to like or dislike certain foods based on what is normally eaten in the house. You can get a 2 year old child to like fruits and vegetables, but if a child has reached adolescence, it will be difficult to get him/her interested in fruits and vegetables for the first time. The balance between diet and physical activity is important in maintaining a healthy weight. Some helpful advice for a healthier lifestyle would be:

• Include vegetables and fruits in every meal
• Include variety in food types consumed
• Avoid sugar-containing beverages as much as possible
• Have meals as a family
• Look at the labels and nutritional information
• Have home-made meals instead of refined and fast foods when possible
• Substitute sugar-filled and fat-filled snacks with fruit snacks
• Have your child's pediatrician involved in healthy weight monitoring
• Include the entire family in healthy lifestyle behavior
• At least 30 minutes of daily physical activity

While some children gain weight because of medical reasons such as an under-active thyroid gland or other diseases, the majority of children start becoming overweight because they take in more calories than they use. Becoming overweight or obese is a result of genetic, behavioral and environmental factors.

As many as 1 in 3 school-aged children between 12 and 18 years of age are overweight, but the problem starts as early as preschool. The map below shows the percentage of preschool children (ages 2-5 years) in each part of the United States that have obesity. The Washington, D.C., area falls in the greater than 20 percent obesity rate for preschool children. The map below was published by the CDC in 2008.

Genetic Factors

We are learning more and more about the role that genetics plays in a child’s weight. In fact, the biggest predictor for having a child with weight issues is when parents also have weight issues. Diabetes during pregnancy and large weight gain during pregnancy can even modify the developing child’s genes, making it even more difficult for the child to manage their weight later in life.

Behavioral Factors

Behaviors are thought to be an important part of becoming overweight or obese. Eating behaviors such as large portion size, unhealthy food types, eating meals away from home and drinking sugar-rich beverages are some of the contributors to becoming overweight. Physical activity, or lack of it, is an important factor in determining how many calories are spent or stored in the body as fat. Children are just not as active as they used to be. Video games, televisions, computers and mobile devices have replaced outdoor play and group sports. This is an important contributor to childhood obesity. Social norms also contribute to this problem. If your child eats the same way as his/her friends and has a similar body type, you may not think of him/her as overweight or obese. If the society is overweight as a group, it is difficult to identify one child as being overweight. Making an effort to change the family's eating behavior and monitoring your child's eating behavior are important changes in helping your child's weight.

Environmental Factors

Children are greatly influenced by their environment and by other children. What children do at school, daycare, afterschool programs, and in the community affects what they eat and their physical activity level. Children spend long hours away from home and are learning some of their behaviors outside of the home.

• Adolescent and Childhood Obesity (U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA))
• Childhood Obesity (The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
• Healthy Youth – Childhood Obesity (CDC)
• Let’s Move
• My Activity Pyramid
• Nutritional Information for Foods
• Portion Distortion
• The Obesity Society