American Teenagers Adopting Healthier Habits, Leveling Off Obesity Rates

American youths are picking up healthy habits of exercising and including veggies and fruits in their diet leveling off obesity rates, a latest study reveals.

The study, published in journal Pediatrics, surveyed middle and high school children for 10 years. The results showed increased levels of physical activity in teens along with reduced time in sedentary activities.

However, experts warn that childhood  and teenage obesity rates have stagnated but not declined.

"I would like to believe that all the public health efforts focusing on increasing physical activity and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption are having an effect, because that seems to be a pattern," Ronald Iannotti, the lead author on the study from the University of Massachusetts Boston, said.

"The fact that (obesity) is leveling off, that's a surprise and a major change from the steady increase that we've seen over time," Iannotti added. "This is great news."

Iannotti and co-authors surveyed students from grades 6 to 10, in the years 2001-2002, 2005-2006 and 2009-2010. A total of 14, 607; 9,150 and 10, 848 teenagers were respectively studied. The participants were asked about their physical activities, dietary intake, time spent on video games, and computer use.

The scientists found a constant rise in healthy habits adopted by the teens. They found that in 2009-2010, number of youngsters involved in at least 60 minutes of physical activity was higher. Apart from this, the authors also found an increase in the number of students eating breakfast on weekdays.

Further, time spent on watching television every day dropped from 3.1 hours to 2.4 hours among the youth.

However, they also found that the rates of obese or overweight participants did not decline during the study period.

Similarly, the research also found no decrease in the rates of video game playing. The number of girls spending time on consoles were also higher.

Iannotti maintained that much improvement is needed in developing healthier habits among the U.S. teens. "Although they're increasing, the recommendation is five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. And we're looking at one or two," he told Reuters Health. "There's still vast room for improvement."