Eliminating 64 Calories Per Day On Average Would Allow the US Childhood Obesity Prevention Goals to Be Met

Johnny come latelys. Nearly a decade ago, I demonstrated how few Calories need to be cut for one to lose weight successfully. See here, here and here, for examples.

In order for the nation to achieve goals set by the federal government for reducing obesity rates by 2020, children in the United States would need to eliminate an average of 64 excess calories per day, researchers calculated in a study published April 10 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

This reduction could be achieved by decreasing calorie intake, increasing physical activity, or both. Without this reduction, the authors predict that the average U.S. youth would be nearly four pounds heavier than a child or teen of the same age was in 2007-2008, and more than 20% of young people would be obese, up from 16.9% today.

"Sixty-four calories may not sound like much individually, but it's quite a consequential number at the population level, and children at greatest risk for obesity face an even larger barrier," says Y. Claire Wang, MD, ScD, assistant professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and lead author of the study. "Closing this gap between how many calories young people are consuming and how many they are expending will take substantial, comprehensive efforts."

Still won't work since parents are too abusive to cut back on their kids Calories.