Despite the improvements in healthy behaviors, the authors said more room for improvement exists, given that most adolescents are not engaging in physical activity at least 60 minutes every day or eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Similarly, most teens continue to exceed the recommendation of watching TV for no more than 2 hours a day.
"Establishment of obesogenic behaviors during adolescence is important because physical activity and diet track from adolescence to adulthood," the authors wrote. "Furthermore, there is evidence that most U.S. youth engage in multiple obesogenic behaviors, putting them at greater risk for physical and psychological health problems and indicating they could benefit from intervention targeting physical activity, sedentary behavior and diet."
Yet the authors noted that the leveling off of BMI between 2005-2006 and 2009-2010 may indicate a stabilization that could potentially begin a downward trend with continued improvements in physical activity, sedentary behavior, and dietary behaviors.
One area of concern, the authors reported, related to the age differences in behaviors. "Compared with younger adolescents, older adolescents reported less physical activity, more computer use, less frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables, more frequent consumption of sweets and sweetened soft drinks, and less frequent consumption of breakfast on weekdays," they wrote. "Thus, it appears that obesogenic behaviors increase with age, and this increase corresponds with an increase in obesity."
The study was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration. The authors reported no financial disclosures.