With almost 70 percent of American adults being either obese or overweight and childhood obesity doubling in the past 30 years, obesity remains at the forefront of public health. However, little is known about the toll this burden takes on Asian American children.
On April 29, the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) reported that one in five Asian American children is overweight. While white children have higher rates of being overweight (at nearly one in three), this study found that some Asian American subgroups have much higher prevalence of being overweight than others, and some with rates similar to that of white children.
For example, nearly 30 percent of Filipinos and Southeast Asian American children are overweight — the highest amongst all Asian Americans. This new information has the potential to inform targeted interventions, as childhood obesity and overweight children have been linked to a host of health, behavioral, and psychological problems that continue into adolescence.