U.K. child obesity rising
A report predicts that the number of 6- to 10-year-olds who will become obese will rise dramatically until the 2040s. Researchers said that childhood obesity in Great Britain is rising at such a rate that half of all boys will be obese by 2050.
"Unless we take proper steps now to tackle it, we are facing disaster in the near future, with today's generation of children dying younger than their parents," said Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum.
But the problem does not just start at school age, Researchers from the Institute of Child Health at University College, London found that 18 per cent of toddlers are too heavy, and 5 per cent are classed as clinically obese. That’s nearly a quarter of all children under the age of three are either overweight or obese.
The figures showed that Indian children were least likely to be obese, with only 9 per cent overweight, compared to a third of black caribbean children and 23 per cent of white children.
Carol Dezateux, Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology at the Institute of Child Health, said, "The concerns were already there, but this confirms that messages to parents of very young children about diet and exercise need to be re-enforced. "
WWW.OBSERVER.GUARDIAN.CO.UK 11TH JUNE
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Last Modified: 03/08/2007
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