Almost Half of New Britain's 4 Year Olds Overweight

The New Britain Early Childhood Collaborative today released an analysis of the Body Mass Index data collected in the city's preschools. It shows that 48% of the four year olds are over weight with 30% weighing enough to be considered obese. The analysis is based on height & weight measurements of 539 four year olds enrolled in New Britain preschools, which represents over 60% of the children in this age group.

"This is a serious crisis," said Dr. Rob Dudley, pediatritian at the Community Health Center and medical advisor for the New Britain Schools. New Britain's 30% childhood obesity rate is substantially above the national average of 18.4%. "While New Britain's citywide statistics are scary enough the figures for the poorest children served by the Head Start program are more than double the national average," Dudley continued.

Obesity is associated with increased rates of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. Children who are obese are far more likely to develop these diseases as young adults.

Those interested in working to solve this problem in New Britain, CT are urged to call Merrill Gay at (860) 229-6018 x 309 for information about the next committee meeting.