Education Report Roundup

Obesity Problems Greater for Older Adolescents Living in Poverty

By Laura Greifner — June 07, 2006 1 min read
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An abstract of “Trends in the Association of Poverty with Overweight Among U.S. Adolescents, 1971-2004" is available from the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Older adolescents who live in poverty are more likely to be overweight than their wealthier counterparts, a study says.

The study, published in the May 24/31 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that in 2004, 15- to 17-year-olds from poor families were more than 50 percent more likely to be overweight than teenagers of the same age from families living above the poverty line. Twenty-three percent of the adolescents living in poverty were considered overweight, compared with 14 percent for their wealthier peers.

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