2015
Profiles of Latino Health
A Closer Look at Latino Child Nutrition
ISSUE 3: TRENDS IN OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG LATINO CHILDREN*
Overweight and obesity rates among all Americans have doubled among adults and tripled among children
since 1980.1 While overweight and obesity pose a challenge to all children, Latino† children are more likely
to experience these conditions than other children. As Latinos represent a rapidly growing share of the
U.S. population of children, particularly under age five, the number of overweight and obese children will
continue to grow if the underlying causes are not addressed. Obese children are more likely to struggle
with obesity throughout adulthood and face poorer health outcomes. As such, child overweight and
obesity present serious challenges not only for the Latino community but for the nation.‡
CHILD OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY DEFINED
Researchers define overweight as children whose body mass index (BMI) is greater than the 85th
percentile (but lower than the 95th percentile) for age and sex, according to child growth charts
developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Children with a BMI that
exceeds the 95th percentile for their age and sex are considered obese. Figures for overweight
children include obese children.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Basics About Childhood Obesity (Atlanta, GA, 2012), http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/basics.html
(accessed August 2014).
Hispanic children are more likely than their peers to
be overweight or obese.
• In 2012, 31.8% of all children (ages 2–19) in
the United States were overweight and 16.9%
were obese.§
Figure 1:
Rates of Children’s Weight Status, Ages 2–19, by
Race/Ethnicity, 2011–2012
100%
80%
• Approximately seven million Latino children
were overweight. This means that 38.9% of all
Hispanic children were overweight, whereas
35.2% of Black children and 28.5% of White
children were overweight.
60%
40%
14.1
22.4
20.2
15.9
15
61.7
64.8
71.5
Hispanic Black
White
14.4
20%
• Over four million Latino children were
considered obese. This means that 22.4% of all
Hispanic children were obese. Comparatively,
20.2% of Black children and 14.1% of White
children were obese. See Figure 1 for children’s
weight statuses for 2011–2012.
0%
Normal/ Under Weight
Overweight
Obese
Source: NCLR calculations from Cynthia L Ogden et al., “Prevalence
of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011–2012,”
JAMA 311, no. 8 (2014): 806–814. The overweight category does not
include obese children; this group is presented separately.
* This profile was authored by Minerva Delgado, Consultant to the Health Policy Project in NCLR’s Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation (ORAL), with substantive input, direction, and oversight from
Samantha Vargas Poppe, Associate Director, Policy Analysis Center, and Steven Lopez, Manager, Health Policy Project. It is an update of a document originally released in 2010 and authored by Kara D. Ryan. NCLR
is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. This brief was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The findings and conclusions presented are those of the
author and NCLR alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of our funders. Permission to copy, disseminate, or otherwise use information from this paper is granted, provided that appropriate credit is
given to NCLR.
† The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” are used interchangeably by the U.S. Census Bureau and throughout this document to refer to persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American,
Dominican, Spanish, and other Hispanic descent; they may be of any race. Furthermore, unless otherwise noted, estimates in this document do not include the 3.7 million residents of Puerto Rico. Comparison
data for non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks will be identified respectively as “Whites” and “Blacks.”
‡ More than one-fifth (22.1%) of all children under age 18—and about one-quarter (25.5%) of children under age five—are Hispanic. NCLR calculation using data for the U.S. Bureau of the Census, “2008 Annual
Social and Economic Supplement,” Current Population Survey. Conducted by the Bureau for the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Washington, DC, 2008, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstc/
cps_table_creator.html (accessed June 2010).
§
See M.K. Serdula et al., “Do obese children become obese adults? A review of the literature,” Preventive Medicine 22, no. 2 (1993): 167–177. The researchers find that approximately one-third of obese preschool
children and one-half of obese school-age children became obese adults, and likelihood increases among obese children at older ages.
PAGE 1
2015
Profiles of Latino Health
A Closer Look at Latino Child Nutrition
ISSUE 3: TRENDS IN OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG LATINO CHILDREN
Hispanic boys are more likely to be obese than Hispanic girls and other boys.
• Obesity rates among Hispanic boys (24.1%) were higher than those for Hispanic girls (20.6%).*
• Overall, Hispanic boys (24.1%) were nearly twice as likely to be obese as White boys (12.6%).
Latino infants are more likely than their White peers to be obese.
• According to the CDC, 14.7% of Hispanic infants (under age two) were obese compared to 10.3% of
White infants.
While high overall, overweight and obesity rates for
Latino children vary throughout stages of childhood.
• Among preschoolers (children ages two to five),
more than 29.8% of Latinos were overweight. Of
these children, 16.7% of Hispanic preschoolers
were obese (twice the national average for this
age group).
• By age group 6–11, nearly half (46.2%) of Hispanic
children were overweight or obese. Over onequarter (26.1%) were obese.
• Rates of obesity and overweight improve slightly
among older Hispanic children (age group 12–19);
38.1% of Hispanics were overweight or obese and
22.6% of Hispanics were obese. See Figure 2 for
rates of overweight and obesity among Latino
children, by age group, in 2011–2012.
Figure 2:
Rates of Overweight and Obesity Among Hispanic
Children by Age Group, 2011-2012
Rates of Overweight and Obesity Among Hispanic Children by Age Group, 2011-­‐2012 46.2 50 40 30 20 38.1 29.8 26.1 16.7 22.6 10 0 2-­‐5 6-­‐11 % Overweight 12-­‐19 % Obese Source: Cynthia L Ogden et al., “Prevalence of Childhood and Adult
Obesity in the United States, 2011–2012,” JAMA 311, no. 8 (2014):
806–814.Cynthia L Ogden et al., Prevalence of Childhood and Adult
Obesity in the United States, 2011-2012, JAMA, 2014.
Latino children are at greater risk of overweight and obesity than other children throughout all stages
of their childhood and adolescence. It is clear that without intervention, Latino children of all ages will
continue to be represent a disproportionate share of the overweight and obese population.
* Unless otherwise noted, all statistics in this document are derived from Cynthia L Ogden et al., “Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United
States, 2011–2012,” JAMA 311, no. 8 (2014): 806–814.
Endnotes
1White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within A Generation. Washington, DC, 2010.
2Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, “Table 18D: Summary of Trends in Growth and Anemia Indicators by Race/Ethnicity.” Pediatric and
Pregnancy Nutritional Surveillance System, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington, DC, 2011, http://www.cdc.gov/pednss/
pednss_tables/pdf/national_table18.pdf (accessed August 2014).
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