Preventing Childhood Obesity: Article Analysis

According to the article “Preventing Childhood Obesity: What Are We Doing Right?” by Thomas A. Farley, MD, MH, and Deborah Dowell, MD, MPH, from the American Journal of Public Health in April of 2014, childhood obesity rates have declined in the last decade. After decades of increases in the rate of childhood obesity beginning in the late 1970’s, new data shows that that the rates have been declining in New York City since 2002. The question still remains, what has led to this decrease in obesity rates among children. Many of the policy changes were implemented in the late 2000’s after the decline had already begun. The authors conclude that the most likely explanation for this phenomenon is a combination of several factors that when separate cannot account for the decline, but when pieced together seem to each play a role in the observed decrease in childhood obesity rates.

The sample studied and discussed in the article was restricted to children enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and public school students in New York City. Though the sample size was large, most likely a fair representation of the New York City population, it would be interesting to see if these same trends were apparent in other

It is necessary to remember that just because there is a correlation between breastfeeding and lower rates of childhood obesity, it doesn’t necessarily imply causation. The breastfeeding rate began to rise in New York City in the 1980’s, but childhood obesity was also increasing at the same time. The fact that data from the 1980’s shows a positive correlation between breastfeeding and childhood obesity, whereas data from the 2000’s shows a negative correlation, most likely means that breastfeeding was not the cause of decreased obesity