The link between poverty and being overweight first shows up among 15- to 17-year-olds as children become freer to choose fattening soft drinks and avoid breakfast and exercise, a recent study showed.
The prevalence of overweight adolescents has doubled in the United States over the past three decades, and overweight children have higher risks of diabetes, high blood pressure and potentially fatal illnesses when they reach adulthood, study author Richard Miech from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said.
Based on U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys through 2004, the study found 23 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds from poor families were overweight, compared with 14 percent of non-poor in that age group — regardless of race or gender.
The proportion of poor and non-poor children who were overweight was about the same among 12- to 14-year-olds.
Older children tend to be more autonomous and free to choose what they eat and do, Miech wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study found poor children were significantly more likely to get more calories from soft drinks than non-poor children. They were also more likely to skip breakfast and engage in less physical activity, contributing to the gap, it said.
