| Popis: |
The youth obesity epidemic is well known and documented. Far less attention, however, has been given to the “tragic realit[y]” that childhood obesity is “most severe and rising fastest in low-income populations and communities of color, which have the fewest resources to intervene or cope with the consequences.” Since many ethnic minority youth are also low income, these youth are the hardest hit by the epidemic. For example, 27.5 % of Mexican American, and 18.6 % of African American, boys ages 6–11 are obese compared to 15.5 % of non-Hispanic White boys of the same age. Among 6–11-year-old girls, the statistics are 19.7 % for Mexican Americans, 24 % for African Americans, and 14.4 % for non-Hispanic Whites. Similar discrepancies exist among children ages 2–5 and 12–19. |
