Statistics show about 16 percent of low-income Alabama preschoolers are obese, and the problem is getting worse.
A report based on 2014 statistics from the Women, Infants and Children feeding program shows that 16.3 percent of children ages 2 to 4 in the program were obese.
That's an increase from about 14 percent of children in 2000, when Alabama was ranked 18th nationally in the obesity statistics.
The state is now ranked 10th nationally, and statistics show the problem is getting worse. Nationally, the obesity rate about 2- to 4-year-olds is on the decline.
The report was released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health. Rates decreased in 31 states, increased in four, and remained the same in the rest from 2010 to 2014.
