Obesity: Levels Hit Plateau for The First Time in Decades

Finally some headway in the fight against childhood obesity. For the first time in nearly three decades, the epidemic may be leveling off. Last May, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the prevalence of overweight and obese kids in the 6-to-11-year-old age group appeared to have hit a plateau of about 32% from 1999 to 2006. Experts say that the leveling off may be due not to better diet and exercise but to the possibility that we've hit a sort of genetic ceiling, with the entire population of children susceptible to gaining too much weight having done so.

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