Promoting Children's Healthy Activity in LAUP Programs

Childhood obesity is a growing health problem in the United States that has captured the attention of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. Over the past four decades, rates of obesity doubled among children age 2 to 5 and quadrupled among children ages 6 to 11 (Ogden and Carroll 2010). In 2010, 15 percent of children ages 2 to 4 were obese (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2012). Among low-income 4-year-olds in Los Angeles County, 20 percent were obese in 2011 (CDC 2013).1 While the most recent data suggest that rates of obesity are escalating more slowly or even leveling off, the prevalence of childhood obesity remains a serious public health concern because it poses short- and long-term health and emotional risks for children (Daniels 2006).