As a group, American children and teenagers have seen a significant increase in weight gain since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with the biggest jumps occurring in younger school-aged children and those who were already prone to obesity, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, published Thursday, looked at 432,302 people between the ages of 2 and 19 years old and found, among other things, that the percentage of obese children and teens increased to 22%, compared with 19% before the pandemic.
Dr. Alyson Goodman, of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and one of the study’s authors, described the results as “substantial and alarming.”
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