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At least one group of Tennessee children is losing weight

Getty Images / Doctors say even if young kids don't become obese, they face challenges to keep the weight off as they grow older.
Getty Images / Doctors say even if young kids don't become obese, they face challenges to keep the weight off as they grow older. Getty Images / Doctors say even if young kids don't become obese, they face challenges to keep the weight off as they grow older.

By Steve Johnson 4 min read

After years of bad news about how fat Tennessee children have become, a new report says at least one group of kids is less obese than before.

A report issued last month by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fewer Tennessee children ages 2 through 4 who participated in the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC) were obese, compared to four years earlier.

In 2014, the year the report was based on, some 14.9 percent of Tennessee kids in the program were obese, compared to 16 percent in 2010.

While the decline is not large, it is big news for health officials.

“For many years the direction that these statistics have been going is up, up, up,” said Richard Hamberg, interim president of the Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit group that promotes public health.