New program aims to combat childhood obesity

WASHINGTON - A nonprofit research-based organization  claims its new program can help lower the rate of childhood obesity.

In a 2006 survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17.1 percent of children ages 2 to 19 were obese. That is up about 3 percentage points for girls and 4 percentage points for boys since 1999. The data in the report is from 2004, the most recent available. Nearly a third of adults were overweight, according the same report.