Editors’ Overview of the Conference on Preventing Childhood Obesity

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Abstract
Several speakers presented data showing the rapid increases in the rates of obesity and overweight that have occurred in the past few decades in the United States, as well as other countries. Obesity and overweight are increasingly prevalent among adults, but similar problems are affecting progressively younger children. Overweight among children 6 to 11 years of age in the United States increased from ∼4% in the early 1970s to 15% in 1999–2000. The speakers explored changes that have occurred in the past few decades that are likely to have contributed to the increasing rates of obesity.