20% of 4-Year-Olds Already Obese: Study

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.

Overall, more than half a million 4-year-olds are obese, the study suggests. The lead author said that rate is worrisome among children so young, even in a population at higher risk for obesity because of other health problems and economic disadvantages. "The cumulative evidence is alarming because within just a few decades, America will become a 'minority majority' nation," one health professor said. (More obesity stories.)