US childhood obesity rate drops "To our knowledge, this is the first national study to show that the prevalence of obesity and extreme obesity among young US children may have begun to decline," wrote lead author Liping Pan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They were able to access height and weight data from 27.5 million children aged two to four in the 30 states which consistently reported their data. In 1998, obesity levels were at 13.05 per cent of the children. This rose to a peak of 15.36 per cent in 2004 before declining to 14.94 per cent in 2010. Extreme obesity rates rose from 1.75 per cent in 1998 to a peak of 2.22 per cent in 2003 before slipping down to 2.07 per cent in 2010, the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. David Ludwig said the declines seen are not enough, and he urged an overhaul of the federal food stamp program (SNAP) to help low-income families tackle obesity by eliminating junk food and adding more fruit and vegetables to their diet.