A person stands next to a Church's Chicken restaurant on July 24, 2008 in the South Los Angeles area of Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (AP) — A new study shows New York City is doing better than Los Angeles in the battle against childhood obesity and one reason may be that Mexican-American boys are more likely to be obese than white or black kids.
From 2003 to 2011, obesity rates for poor children dropped in New York to around 16 percent. But they rose in Los Angeles and ended at about 20 percent.
The researchers focused on children ages 3 and 4 enrolled in a government program that provides food and other services to women and their young children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Thursday.
The authors noted that the Los Angeles program has many more Mexican-American kids.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
