Teenagers are living healthy lifestyles, curbing the obesity rates by exercising more and eating less junk food, according to a new study.
The findings reported by the New York Times show the anti-obesity messages and healthy-eating programs have been affective on youth. The study was published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
"In some ways you can interpret what we found positively by saying we're beginning to bend the curve, and hopefully we'll start seeing a downward trend in obesity," Dr. Ronald J. Iannotti, a study author and chair of the department of exercise and health sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston, told the Times. "But there's large room for improvement."
Researchers looked at data from a national survey of tens of thousands of schoolchildren in grades 6 through 10, "which was carried out once every four years from roughly 2001 to 2010," according to the Times.
Scientist found the decline in the obesity rates is due to increases in physical activities, consuming more fruits and veggies and most important of all, eating breakfast.
The data also shows that teenagers are actively making better choices when it comes to food, saying no to the sugary drinks and candy bars.
"Childhood obesity rates, which have more than doubled since 1980, rose slightly between 2001 and 2006, then leveled off by 2010, at roughly 13 percent. The proportion of those who were overweight also plateaued at around 17 percent," the Times reports. "Obesity tends to follow children into adulthood, raising the risk of heart disease and cancer as well as Type 2 diabetes, a disease that has also risen sharply among children."
The message is clear: teens are accepting looking at some sort of screen for more than two hours a day is not as fun as being active off the couch.
