Michelle Obama credits Let’s Move with declining childhood obesity rates

Michelle Obama on Tuesday credited her Let’s Move initiative with helping to cut childhood obesity rates across the country.

Obama spoke after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that 19 states and territories saw obesity rates among low-income preschoolers decline from 2008 through 2011. Twenty states and Puerto Rico held steady and the rates increased slightly in three states. 

{mosads}“Today’s announcement reaffirms my belief that together, we are making a real difference in helping kids across the country get a healthier start to life,” the first lady said in a statement.  

“We know how essential it is to set our youngest children on a path towards a lifetime of healthy eating and physical activity, and more than 10,000 childcare programs participating in the Let’s Move! Child Care initiative are doing vitally important work on this front. Yet, while this announcement reflects important progress, we also know that there is tremendous work still to be done to support healthy futures for all our children.”

Research shows that about one in eight preschoolers is obese and that children are five times more likely to be overweight or obese as an adult if they are overweight or obese between the ages of three and five.

Obama has made Let’s Move, along with her work for military families through Joining Forces, one of the signature programs during her time in the White House.

In February, she went on a multi-stop tour to celebrate the initiative’s third anniversary and she has held multiple events at the White House and around the country to advocate healthy eating and physical activity among children.

The full CDC report is available here.