A study has found that childhood obesity has dropped in NYC, specifically school children. The youngest subset of children in NYC schools have seen the most significant drop in obesity rates. This was measured over 5 years and the drop in obesity rates was only marginal but this is still good news overall and sparks hope for change in childhood obesity rates as a whole.

The exact change in obesity rates over the 5 year course was 1.2% and while this may seem small it is the largest drop in obesity rates that has been seen in any major U.S. city. The change is likely to be attributed to NYC’s programs aimed at taking childhood obesity head on as it’s an epidemic, not only in NYC, but all around the country.

Best of all, the same programs and initiatives to tackle the issue of obesity in children in NYC are being used in other parts of the country. NYC health officials may get the ball rolling as the 1.2% decrease, while arguably small, is still a decrease nonetheless.

One of the changes in particular, implemented by NYC health officials, is the change in what kids are eating at their schools. Diets have been structured accordingly to keep children away from unhealthy foods and unhealthy eating habits in general. It will be interesting to see how rates of childhood obesity will pan out from here and to what degree health officials all over the nation will combat the staggering incidence of obesity in children.

Source: Yahoo