Childhood obesity is a growing problem across the United States, but South Dakota school age kids seem to be slowing that trend. According to Ashley Miller, chronic disease epidemiologist for the Department of Health, the number of students who are overweight or obese has plateaued in the past several years. She says that 175 of the state’s schools submit weight and height measurements for the department to calculate the obesity rate of kindergarten through high school age students.

Miller says the state’s 2013-2014 school data found that 15.8 percent of South Dakota students were obese and another 16.5 percent were overweight. The previous two school years before then were a little higher than that. She says the department’s goal is to reduce the percentage of students who are obese to 14 percent by 2020 through different programs and education.

A total of 175 schools submitted student height and weight data for this latest survey, which accounts for 31.5 percent of the all the students in the state.