SALT LAKE CITY — In Utah, 9.7% of public high school students were obese as of 2019, according to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
The study that discovered this, which has been conducted every other year since 2006, also found that boys are more than twice as likely to be obese compared to girls. From 1994 to 2010, the number of obese third-grade boys increased by 97%, while the number of obese third-grade girls increased by 40%.
“This is a trend that is seen internationally as well. There could be a number of factors that put boys at greater risk for being overweight or obese,” said McKell Drury with the Healthy Environments Active Living program at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
The numbers are based on body mass index, or BMI, a scale measured by a person’s weight compared to their height. Drury said known issues with using BMI as a point of measurement include its inability to detect the difference between fat and muscle; it is still used, however, because it is a “quick, noninvasive and inexpensive way to measure weight.”
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Written by KAIGAN MEARS BIGLER, KSL.com.
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