Study Suggests Obesity Increasing Among US Children

Study Suggests Obesity Increasing Among US Children

研究表明美国儿童肥胖率正在上升

【听力音频】

----------------------------------------------------------------------

　　By John Russell

　　24 December 2023

　　A new study adds to evidence that obesity is becoming more common in young children in America.

　　The study appeared in the medical publication Pediatrics.

　　The findings are similar to other national data, which suggests around 2.5 percent of all preschool-aged children were severely obese during the same period.

　　One of the study's writers, Heidi Blanck of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said "We were doing well and now we see this upward trend....We are dismayed at seeing these findings."

　　Dismayed is a term that means very worried or disappointed.

　　The study looked at children ages 2 to 4 who took part in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. The program gives healthy foods and other services to preschool-aged children in low-income families. The children were weighed and measured.

　　The researchers found that 2.1 percent of kids in the program were severely obese in 2010. Six years later, the rate had dropped to 1.8 percent. But by 2020, it was 2 percent. That amounts to about 33,000 of more than 1.6 million kids in the WIC program.

　　The study showed major increases in 20 states. California's was the highest at 2.8 percent. There also were large increases in some racial and ethnic groups. The highest rate, about 2.8 percent, was among Hispanic children.

　　Experts say severe obesity at a very early age is nearly irreversible – meaning the damage is nearly impossible to undo.

　　Severe obesity is strongly linked with health problems and an early death.

　　It is not clear why the increase occurred, Blanck said.

　　When WIC obesity rates dropped, some experts suggested 2009 policy changes might be responsible. Those changes took out juice from infant food packages, provided less saturated fat, and tried to make it easier for people to buy fruits and vegetables.

　　The package has not changed. But "the daily hardships that families living in poverty are facing may be harder today than they were 10 years ago, and the slight increases in the WIC package just weren't enough," said Dr. Sarah Armstrong, a Duke University childhood obesity researcher.

　　The researchers faced difficulties. The number of kids in WIC declined in the past ten years. And the study included 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic hit. At the time, fewer parents brought their children in to see doctors. That reduced the amount of complete information available.

　　Despite its limitations, it was a "very well done study," said Deanna Hoelscher, a childhood obesity researcher at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She added, "It gives you a hint of what's going on."

　　What has happened since 2020 is not yet known. Some small studies have suggested an increase in childhood obesity — especially during the pandemic. During the pandemic, kids were kept home from schools. Their eating and bedtime schedules were changed and physical activity decreased.

　　"We are thinking it's going to get worse," Hoelscher said.

　　I'm John Russell.

　　Mike Stobbe reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

　　作者：John Russell

　　日期：2023年12月24日

　　一项新的研究进一步证实了在美国，儿童肥胖现象越来越普遍。

　　这项研究发表在医学刊物《儿科》上。

　　研究结果与其他全国数据相似，这些数据表明，在同一时期，大约有2.5%的学龄前儿童严重肥胖。

　　研究的一位作者，美国疾病控制和预防中心的Heidi Blanck表示：“我们原本做得很好，现在我们看到这个上升趋势....我们对看到这些发现感到非常沮丧。”

　　“沮丧”是一个表示非常担忧或失望的词。

　　该研究关注的是参与妇女、婴儿和儿童(WIC)计划的2至4岁的儿童。该计划为低收入家庭的学龄前儿童提供健康食品和其他服务。这些儿童的体重和身高都被测量了。

　　研究人员发现，2010年参与该计划的儿童中，有2.1%的儿童严重肥胖。六年后，这个比例下降到1.8%。但到了2020年，这个比例又上升到了2%。这相当于WIC计划中超过160万儿童中的约33,000名儿童。

　　该研究显示，20个州的肥胖率大幅上升。其中，加利福尼亚州的肥胖率最高，达到2.8%。一些种族和族裔群体的肥胖率也大幅上升。其中，西班牙裔儿童的肥胖率最高，约为2.8%。

　　专家表示，极早期的严重肥胖几乎是不可逆的，也就是说，这种损害几乎无法挽回。

　　严重肥胖与健康问题和早逝有着强烈的关联。

　　Blanck表示，目前还不清楚肥胖率上升的原因。

　　当WIC的肥胖率下降时，一些专家建议可能是2009年的政策变化起了作用。这些变化包括从婴儿食品包中去掉果汁，提供较少的饱和脂肪，并试图让人们更容易购买水果和蔬菜。

　　食品包的内容并未改变。但是杜克大学儿童肥胖研究员Sarah Armstrong博士表示，“生活在贫困中的家庭面临的日常困难可能比10年前更大，而WIC食品包的微小增加可能还不够。”

　　研究人员面临困难。过去十年中，参加WIC的儿童人数有所减少。而且，该研究包括了2020年，也就是新冠疫情爆发的那一年。当时，较少的父母带孩子去看医生。这减少了可用的完整信息。

　　尽管存在这些限制，但这是一项“做得非常好的研究”，德克萨斯大学休斯顿公共卫生学院的儿童肥胖研究员Deanna Hoelscher说。她补充说，“这给你一种对正在发生的事情的暗示。”

　　自2020年以来发生了什么，目前还不清楚。一些小型研究已经暗示儿童肥胖率有所增加，特别是在疫情期间。在疫情期间，孩子们被留在家中。他们的饮食和睡眠时间表发生了变化，体育活动也减少了。

　　“我们认为情况会变得更糟，”Hoelscher说。

　　我是John Russell。

　　这个故事是由美联社的Mike Stobbe报道的，John Russell为VOA学英语进行了改编。

----------------------------------------------------------------------

　　这个故事中的词汇：

　　obesity – n. 医学问题，涉及体内脂肪过多。它增加了许多其他疾病和健康问题的风险

　　dismayed – adj. 担忧，失望，或者不安

　　hint – n. 一小部分信息，帮助你猜测答案