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For the first time in more than a generation, overweight rates among Canadian children are falling — raising hopes Canada may become one of the first countries to turn the childhood obesity epidemic around.

New figures show the combined rate of overweight and obesity among three- to 19-year-olds fell to 27 per cent in 2013, from nearly 31 per cent a decade earlier.

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The rate fell faster among girls than boys, and among younger children compared with teens.

However, while both weight and body-mass-index scores decreased overall, the proportion of children classed as obese — those at the highest risk of diabetes-related kidney failure, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and other weight-related health problems — held steady, at about 13 per cent over the 10-year study period.

“Even though we haven’t seen a decline (in obesity rates) we did see a plateau,” said co-author Dr. Atul Sharma, a pediatric kidney doctor and biostatistician at The Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg.