Study finds new links to child obesity

SYDNEY, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A study has found Australian children are more likely to be obese if they are from low-income families of a particular ethnic background.

The University of Sydney study also found, however, that the obesity problem appears to have leveled off.

Professor Jenny O'Dea told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the study of 9,000 children found that about 9 percent of children from low-income families were obese compared to about 4 percent from high-income families.

The study also found that children from an Aboriginal, Pacific Island, Middle Eastern or southern European background have a greater risk of obesity, she said.

She said that in the 1980s there was a low risk of obesity -- about 1 percent.

It went up to 5 percent in 1995 when concern arose that child obesity was tripling, she said.

"Our study showed that, in 2006, 6.4 percent of all children were obese -- not a big increase," O'Dea said.

But "it's glaringly obvious, if you have about 20 percent of your low-income Middle Eastern children and your low-income Polynesian, Pacific Islander children who are actually obese, then those communities need some special program for their children," she concluded.