On November 9, 2011, the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA) and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research released the study, A Patchwork of Progress: Changes in Overweight and Obesity Among California 5th, 7th, and 9th Graders, 2005-2010. The study offers hope that the state may be getting a handle on its 30-year battle with childhood obesity, but also showcases a patchwork of progress that leaves the majority of counties in the state still registering increases in obesity rates among school-age children.

The study found the percentage of overweight and obese children in the state dropped 1.1 percent from 2005 to 2010. However, 38 percent of children are still affected – a rate nearly three times higher than it was 30 years ago when the obesity epidemic began. Improvements are not being seen statewide, with 31 of California’s 58 counties experiencing an increase in childhood overweight over the five-year period from 2005 to 2010. 

You can access information on this new study on the CCPHA website at http://www.publichealthadvocacy.org/research_patchworkprogress.html.

The full study can be accessed here.