Obesity Trends Report Card Gives Mixed Reviews
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A new report card on obesity trends in America shows high marks in some areas and low scores in others.
That's what a new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association is showing.
On the up side, there's a big drop in obesity rates in young children over the past decade.
Obesity rates in two to five-year-olds fell from 14 percent in 2003 to eight percent in 2012.
It's not certain what the effects are of programs such as Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign and improvements in school lunches.
Researchers say improvements were seen in low-income preschoolers who received meals from federal nutrition programs.
But close to 17 percent of children and teens were obese in 2012 which is about the same as a decade ago.
In adults, obesity rates are holding steady over the decade at about one in three people over age 20.
For women 60 and older, the rates have actually increased by about 20 percent.