Fat Kids Dupe Docs, Rig Pedometers

Only 13% recognize when their child is obese

(NEWSER) - Nearly half the parents of severely overweight children ages 6 to 11 said their child was “about the right weight,” and only 13% recognized that their child had a severe problem, says a University of Michigan study. The results indicate parents think children will “grow out” of obesity or that something will change as they age, reports the AP. More»

And more likely to stay that way as toddlers, a new study finds

(NEWSER) - Chubby babies are adorable, sure, but a new study shows that overweight or "obese" babies (researchers shy away from attaching the label to kids so young) are likely to stay that way—and a huge number of infants fall into those categories. Almost 32% of babies are obese or overweight by nine months, and that number rises to 34% by two years, LiveScience reports. The study looked at the weight of 7,500 children born in 2001 over time. More»

Standards aren't that extreme, either

(USER SUBMITTED) - US military recruiters have a big fat problem: "Almost one in four applicants to the military are rejected for being overweight," says a Cornell researcher. Some 6 million men and 17 million women were rejected as too porky for combat between 2007 and 2008, reports LiveScience. It's the No. 1 reason that applicants are disqualified, and top brass fear it will gut our military readiness. More»

(NEWSER) - Overweight kids eat more when they eat with their overweight friends, Newsweek reports. A new study tested a child's consumption of healthy snacks and junk food while in the company of a friend or stranger who was either fat or lean. Overweight kids eating with a chubby buddy ate more unhealthy calories than any other pairing. More»

(AP) - A striking new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese. Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at so early an age. Obesity is more common in Hispanic and black youngsters, too, but the disparity is most startling in American Indians, whose rate is almost double that of whites. More»