(Getty Images/John Moore)

(CNSNews.com) - The obesity rate for children growing up in the poorest families in America was 71 percent higher in the period from 2013 through 2016 than it was for children growing up in the richest families, according to a Government Accountability Office report released in October.

“Childhood obesity disproportionately affects children from low-income families,” said the GAO in a report on childhood obesity research.

“For example,” said GAO, “CDC data show that the obesity rate for children in families with income below the federal poverty threshold was 21 percent from 2013 through 2016, which was about 71 percent higher than the rate for children in families with the highest incomes.”

The GAO report footnoted a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its “National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.”

That survey said: “Youth aged 2-19 years living in families with incomes 400 percent to 499 percent of the poverty threshold had the lowest obesity rate among family income groups, 11.9 percent in 2013-2016.”

“Rates for youth in other family groups were: 21.0 percent for those with incomes under the poverty threshold; 75.8 percent higher than the best group rate,” said the CDC report.

“20.7 percent for those with incomes 100 percent to 199 percent of the poverty threshold; 73.3 percent higher than the best group rate,” it said.

“16.9 percent for those with incomes 200 percent to 399 percent of the poverty threshold; not significantly different than the best group rate,” it said.

“12.3 percent for those with incomes 500 percent or more of the poverty threshold; not significantly different than the best group rate.”

According to GAO, the federal poverty threshold in 2016 for a four-person family that includes two children was $24,339.









