More Kids Growing Up Obese in U.S. Than Canada: Study

American children are growing up fatter than their Canadian counterparts, according to a study released Tuesday by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study looked at childhood obesity in the United States and Canada from the 1970s to the 2010s.

It found that obesity was just as prevalent in Canada as the United States in the late 1970s, but has shot up in America since 2001.

Between 2001 and 2004, the percentage of children and adolescents who were obese was 16.6 percent in the U.S., compared to 12.4 percent in Canada.

The chasm continued for the next decade. From 2009 to 2013, the obesity percentage in the U.S. was 17.5 percent, a notable contrast to Canada’s 13 percent.

The study also found the greatest discrepancy between obesity rates was the age group of 7-12, where the United States’ rate was more than 7 percentage points higher than Canada.

Those Americans younger, between 3 and 6 years old, and those older, between 13 and 19 years older, did not see a substantially higher obesity rate than Canada.

Girls were more likely to be obese than boys, the study also found.

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