Who’s most at risk?

Children, and it’s getting worse. “Addressing childhood obesity is like playing whack-a-mole,” said Harvard nutritionist Erica Kenney. Kids are spending more and more time indoors looking at screens, where they’re bombarded with advertisements for unhealthy foods. Black children see twice as many soda and candy ads as white kids do, which is just one reason why childhood obesity is racially skewed: A 2017 study showed that about 26 percent of Hispanic youth and 22 percent of black youth were obese, compared with 14 percent for white youth and 11 percent for Asian youth. Children are gaining weight faster than adults, with the obesity rate for U.S. kids ages 5 to 9 projected to hit 26 percent by 2030.