Preventing child obesity -- it's not happening at day care centers
Does your child care center serve your kid fatty snacks and sugary drinks? Does your child watch TV more than once a week at day care?
With nearly 25 percent of children ages 2 through 5 classified as obese or overweight, children should learn about healthy lifestyles as early as day care, according to a new report. But for many children, that's not happening, finds the study from Harvard and Duke researchers done for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Researchers graded states on how well their regulations required children to eat healthy and do physical activity. Most states had just a few regulations on obesity prevention.
Researchers drew up model regulations -- 10 for healthy eating, such as not serving sugar-sweetened drinks, and 10 for physical activity, including providing children 60 minutes a day of exercise. On average, states had just three of the 20 model regulations.
States then were given letter grades on how well they matched the model guidelines. Across the board, the grades were dismal. Maryland was mediocre with a C average. Jeesh.
Georgia and Nevada ranked highest for healthy eating and physical activity regulations, and South Dakota, Puerto Rico, and Idaho ranked lowest. (You can see how states compare here.)
The findings show a need for more stringent state regulations to keep young kids healthy, the authors write. The influence of child care centers is huge. Nearly 75 percent of kids ages 3 to 6 spend their days at day care, according to the report.
"Stronger state regulations aimed at child-care centers have the potential to reduce the risk of obesity for millions of children in the U.S.," said Sara Benjamin, an assistant professor at Duke University. "These providers are in a unique position to encourage very young children to eat healthy foods and be active."
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