‘SIGNIFICANT DECREASE’

Health officials say childhood obesity appears to be declining nationwide in all but three states — including Tennessee.

ATLANTA — For many years, doctors have been wringing their hands as more and more U.S. children grew fat. Now, that may be changing, with the first evidence of a national decline in childhood obesity.

Tennessee was one of three states where the obesity rate increased. In 18 states, there were at least slight drops in obesity for low-income preschoolers, health officials said Tuesday.

After decades on the rise, childhood obesity rates recently have essentially been flat. A few places — Philadelphia, New York City and Mississippi — reported improvements in the last couple of years. But the report from the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention shows signs of widerranging progress.

“Now, for the first time, we’re seeing a significant decrease in childhood obesity” nationally, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC director.

But rates are still too high, he added. One in eight preschoolers is obese in the United States, and it’s even more common in black and Hispanic kids.

Some hope the report marks a turning point.

Tuesday’s study used height and weight measurements from nearly 12 million low-income children in 40 states. The data was collected from 2008 through 2011.

The biggest declines were in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey and South Dakota. Each saw their obesity numbers fall at least 1 percentage point.

Other states showing improvement: California, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Washington. A substantial decline was also seen in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Despite the improvements, the numbers are still disappointing. Hawaii was the best, with about 9 percent of low-income pre- schoolers estimated to be obese in 2011. Even with some progress, California was worst, at nearly 17 percent.

Ten states were not included; some had changed how they track height and weight.

One of the missing states is Texas, which has one of the largest popula- tions of low-income children and is known to have a significant problem with childhood obesity.

Of the remaining 40 states, 18 showed at least slight improvement and 19 states and Puerto Rico had no significant change.

Three states — Colorado, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — increased.