“More than one-third of children ages 10–17 are obese (16.4 percent) or overweight (18.2 percent). State-specific rates ranged from a low of 9.6 percent in Oregon to a high of 21.9 percent in Mississippi.,” according to the report “F” as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future from Trust for America’s Health, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Nine states, plus D.C., have childhood obesity rates greater than 20 percent: Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia,” according to the report “F” as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future from Trust for America’s Health, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Nine of the 10 states with the highest rates of obese children are in the South, as are nine out of the 10 states with the highest rates of poverty,” according to the report “F” as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future from Trust for America’s Health, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Recent studies have shown that the number of obese children and adolescents may have leveled off since 1999, except among the very heaviest boys ages 6–19, but the rates remain startlingly high,” according to the report “F” as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future from Trust for America’s Health, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Nationwide, less than one-third of all children ages 6–17 engage in vigorous activity, defined as at least 20 minutes of physical activity that makes the child sweat and breathe hard,” according to the report “F” as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future from Trust for America’s Health, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“The percentage of children engaging in daily, vigorous physical activity ranged from a low of 17.6 percent in Utah to a high of 38.5 percent in North Carolina,” according to the report “F” as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future from Trust for America’s Health, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Drinking roughly 8 ounces of cold water increased resting energy expenditure by 25% over baseline for more than 40 minutes in children who were approximately 10-years-old according to a study from Israel.

“It was previously demonstrated that drinking water significantly elevates the resting energy expenditure (REE) in adults, and that low water intake is associated with obesity and lesser success in weight reduction,” the researchers noted.

“Consuming the recommended daily amount of water for children could result in an energy expenditure equivalent to an additional weight loss of about 1.2 kg per year [2.6 pounds per year],” the researchers concluded.

“[A]n association between tonsillectomy and greater-than-expected weight gain was seen, regardless of whether children were normal weight or overweight prior to surgery,” according to a study appearing in the Feb 2011 issue of reportOtolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery as noted in an article on WebMD.

Five-year-old children were 1.8 times more likely to be overweight if their mothers skipped breakfast during pregnancy according to a study from the University of Yamanashi’s School of Medicine in Chuo, Yamanashi, Japan.

Children with shorter sleep duration, which was defined as roughly an hour less than the recommended amount of sleep, were 58% more likely to be overweight or obese than those who got the recommended amount of sleep according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Children with shortest sleep duration, which was defined as getting roughly more than 2 hours less than the recommended amount of sleep, were 92% more likely to be overweight or obese than those who got more sleep according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Each additional hour of sleep reduces the risk of a child being overweight or obese by 9% according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Boys who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got 9-10 hours of sleep were 2.3 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan.

Boys who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got 8-9 hours of sleep were 3.5 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan.

Boys who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got less than 8 hours of sleep were 5.5 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan.

Girls who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got 9-10 hours of sleep were 1.5 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan.

Girls who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got 8-9 hours of sleep were 1.9 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan.

Girls who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got less than 8 hours of sleep were 2.9 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan.

“Sleep deprivation may influence the development of obesity through several possible biological pathways including increased sympathetic activity [ that is, increased adrenaline and noradrenaline ], elevated cortisol [ stress hormone ] and ghrelin levels, decreased leptin and growth hormone, and/or impaired glucose tolerance,” according to a recent paper according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Skipping breakfast is associated with being overweight for children according to a recent paper.

Obese school children ate a smaller percentage of their calories at breakfast than normal-weight children according to a recent study that analyzed food records of children from seven consecutive days.

Obese boys consumed 17 percent of their daily calories at breakfast compared to 21 percent for normal-weight boys.

Obese girls consumed 15 percent of their daily calories at breakfast compared to 18 percent for normal-weight boys.

Low glycemic index breakfast reduces calorie intake of preadolescent children according to a recent study from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.

Adolescent lost 21.8 pounds in three months on a low-carbohydrate diet compared to 10.8 pounds on a low-fat diet according to a recent study.

Overweight adolescents ate 400 calories more of an extra-large fast food meal than lean adolescents according to a study from researchers at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Mass.

Children ate 15 percent more calories when they were given larger portions at lunch according to a study by Jennifer Fisher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Children’s Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas, USA and colleagues.