Study finds childhood obesity may be declining

Tantalizing evidence that America's epidemic of childhood obesity might be starting to subside was presented Sunday by researchers who also found that the trend could be speeded up through school programs. Several recent studies reported that rates of overweight and obese children plateaued after rising rapidly since 1980. But this is the first major study to detect a decline - of 4% - and it was in a national sample dominated by low-income blacks and Hispanics, the groups at highest risk.