U.S. adult obesity stable, kids obesity up

CHICAGO, April 26 (UPI) -- U.S. white adults have stopped getting obese but African-American young adults and children have rising obesity levels, researchers said.

Anirban Basu of the University of Chicago School of Medicine and colleagues used a simulation model based on national data from 2000-2004 and validated against 2005-2006 data.

The researchers project obesity rates across all age categories for the U.S. adult will remain stable for the next 10 years. However, the researchers project young African-American adults ages 18-39, children -- mainly boys ages 6-9 -- and African-American children age 10 and older will have rising obesity levels.

"The unprecedented rise in obesity among U.S. adults over the past two decades appears to have stabilized and will continue to remain stable over the next 10 years," Basu said in a statement. "Levels of obesity, however, remain very high and we're particularly concerned with the increase in rates of overweight among 6-9 year-old children -- especially boys."

The findings are published in the journal Medical Decision Making.