Palmetto Report

(Rock Hill, S.C.) -- Childhood obesity is a "serious problem" in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including among very young children. According to research published in the journal Pediatrics in 2018, 26 percent of children ages 2 to 5 are overweight and more than 15 percent are obese. Researchers, looking at data from 1999-2016, also found more than 40 percent of 16 to 19-year-olds are obese. “Children born in the year 2000 and since...will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents”, said Elizabeth Weikle, a licensed registered dietitian and adjunct professor of human nutrition at Winthrop University.