HOUSTON -- A Texas study shows children in the Lone Star State are among the most overweight youngsters in the United States.

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The percentage of obese students in Texas is much higher among minorities -- five to six times higher than national recommendations for overall childhood obesity.

Researchers from the the University of Texas School of Public Health collected data from more than 6,000 students in 30 school districts and 132 schools throughout Texas from 1999 to 2001. They measured children's weight and height and used questionnaires to assess nutritional behaviors and attitudes as well as physical activity behaviors.

Overall, Texas fourth-graders are overweight at a rate 46 percent higher than children of similar age elsewhere in the country.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services set an objective of having only 5 percent of school-aged children overweight by the year 2010. In Texas, 11th-grade white girls were closest to the goal at 5.5 percent overweight; eighth-grade Hispanic boys were farthest off at almost 33 percent.

"It is difficult to overstate the seriousness of the obesity epidemic in Texas," said Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Texas Commissioner of Health. "This generation of children may be the first in Texas history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents."

The study, which will be published in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health, does not provide reasons for more weight gain among Hispanic and black children, but one of its authors said cultural differences in food, body image and exercise could be responsible.

"This gives us definitive proof that more Texas children are overweight than children in the U.S. in general, especially among certain groups," said Deanna Hoelscher, lead researcher of the study and director of the human nutrition center at the UT School of Public Health. "This is one place Texas does not want to be bigger."

Additional Resources:

• American Journal of Public Health
• University of Texas School of Public Health