Utah’s children have the lowest obesity rates in the nation in nearly every age group, according to a report released Thursday.
Just 8.7% of Utah children ages 10 to 17 are obese, compared to a national average of 15.3%, according to “State of Childhood Obesity,” a report released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. No other state had a lower obesity rate for that age group. Mississippi had the highest overall youth obesity rate, at 25.4%.
The report defines obesity as a body mass index (weight divided by height) in the 95th percentile of children of the same age and sex.