A new study adds to evidence that obesity is becoming more common in young children in America.
一项新的研究进一步证明，肥胖在美国幼儿中变得越来越普遍。
The study appeared in the medical publication Pediatrics.
这项研究发表在医学期刊《儿科学》上。
The findings are similar to other national data, which suggests around 2.5 percent of all preschool-aged children were severely obese during the same period.
这一发现与其他国家数据相似，这些数据表明，在同一时期，约2.5%的学龄前儿童严重肥胖。
One of the study's writers, Heidi Blanck of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said "We were doing well and now we see this upward trend....We are dismayed at seeing these findings."
该研究的作者之一，美国疾病控制和预防中心的海蒂·布兰克说：“我们做得很好，现在我们看到了这种上升趋势……我们对这些发现感到沮丧。”
Dismayed is a term that means very worried or disappointed.
Dismayed是一个术语，意思是非常担心或失望。
The study looked at children ages 2 to 4 who took part in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. The program gives healthy foods and other services to preschool-aged children in low-income families. The children were weighed and measured.
这项研究观察了2至4岁参加妇女、婴儿和儿童（WIC）项目的儿童。该计划为低收入家庭的学龄前儿童提供健康食品和其他服务。孩子们测量了体重和身高。
The researchers found that 2.1 percent of kids in the program were severely obese in 2010. Six years later, the rate had dropped to 1.8 percent. But by 2020, it was 2 percent. That amounts to about 33,000 of more than 1.6 million kids in the WIC program.
研究人员发现，2010年，该项目中有2.1%的儿童严重肥胖。六年后，这一比例降至1.8%。但到2020年，这一比例为2%。这相当于参与WIC项目的160多万儿童中的约3.3万人。
The study showed major increases in 20 states. California's was the highest at 2.8 percent. There also were large increases in some racial and ethnic groups. The highest rate, about 2.8 percent, was among Hispanic children.
这项研究显示，有20个州的严重肥胖比例大幅增加。加利福尼亚州的比例最高，为2.8%。一些种族和族裔群体的严重肥胖比例也大幅增加。西班牙裔儿童的比例最高，约为2.8%。
Experts say severe obesity at a very early age is nearly irreversible – meaning the damage is nearly impossible to undo.
专家表示，年幼时期的严重肥胖几乎是不可逆转的，这意味着这种损害几乎不可能消除。
Severe obesity is strongly linked with health problems and an early death.
严重肥胖与健康问题和过早死亡密切相关。
It is not clear why the increase occurred, Blanck said.
布兰克说，目前还不清楚为什么会出现这种增长。
When WIC obesity rates dropped, some experts suggested 2009 policy changes might be responsible. Those changes took out juice from infant food packages, provided less saturated fat, and tried to make it easier for people to buy fruits and vegetables.
当WIC肥胖率下降时，一些专家认为原因可能是2009年的政策改革。这些改革消除了婴儿食品包中的果汁，减少了饱和脂肪，并试图让人们更容易购买水果和蔬菜。
The package has not changed. But "the daily hardships that families living in poverty are facing may be harder today than they were 10 years ago, and the slight increases in the WIC package just weren't enough," said Dr. Sarah Armstrong, a Duke University childhood obesity researcher.
这些食品包没有改变。但是，杜克大学儿童肥胖研究人员萨拉·阿姆斯特朗博士说：“如今生活在贫困中的家庭每天面临的困苦可能比10年前更严重，而WIC项目食品包的小幅增加还不够。”
The researchers faced difficulties. The number of kids in WIC declined in the past ten years. And the study included 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic hit. At the time, fewer parents brought their children in to see doctors. That reduced the amount of complete information available.
研究人员面临困难。在过去的十年里，WIC项目的孩子数量有所下降。这项研究包括新冠肺炎大流行的2020年。当时，带孩子来看病的父母越来越少。这减少了可用的完整信息量。
Despite its limitations, it was a "very well done study," said Deanna Hoelscher, a childhood obesity researcher at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She added, "It gives you a hint of what's going on."
休斯顿公共卫生学院健康科学中心的儿童肥胖研究员迪安娜·霍尔舍说，尽管有局限性，但这是一项“做得很好的研究”。她补充道，“这提示了现状。”
What has happened since 2020 is not yet known. Some small studies have suggested an increase in childhood obesity — especially during the pandemic. During the pandemic, kids were kept home from schools. Their eating and bedtime schedules were changed and physical activity decreased.
自2020年以来发生了什么还不得而知。一些小型研究表明，儿童肥胖率有所上升，尤其是在疫情期间。疫情期间孩子们被关在家里不上学。他们的饮食和就寝时间发生了改变，体育锻炼也有所减少。
"We are thinking it's going to get worse," Hoelscher said.
“我们认为情况会变得更糟，”霍尔舍说。