 News
16th May 2008
British children amongst the fattest in EuropeBritish
children are among the worst in a Europe-wide obesity league table, with around
a third weighing more than they should. A couch potato lifestyle and a
growing appetite for fast food is blamed for our boys and girls weighing in near
the top of a 27-country fat league. The findings come as a leading doctor
warned that surgery such as stomach stapling will have to be used on children
soon to tackle the obesity crisis. Scottish girls take second place in
the female rankings, with almost 33 per cent overweight. English girls
are fourth, with 29.3 per cent too heavy for their height. The heaviest
girls are in Portugal (34.3 per cent), while the slimmest are in Latvia and Lithuania
(3.5 per cent overweight). Among the boys, Scotland was again second, with
almost 35 per cent too heavy for their height. Only Spanish boys are heavier.
English boys are in sixth place at 29 per cent - compared to the lean lads of
Lithuania, where only 8 per cent are overweight. Obesity experts said the
results could be partly explained by a couch potato lifestyle, in which TV dinners
have replaced family meals and computer games are preferred to outdoor play. Dr
Tim Lobstein, of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, said:
"There is a big industry selling us more TV to watch, more computer games to play,
more DVDs to sit and watch. "There is a big industry promoting screen watching
which is a sedentary behaviour and you just get fatter while you do it." The
figures, which were compiled by the IASO from government and scientific studies,
come as British doctors warn they are treating children as young as two for obesity.
Drastic stomach surgery, including gastric banding, is being carried out
on children as a last resort. Type 2 diabetes, which was once a problem
for overweight middle aged adults, is being diagnosed in teenagers, and chubby
children are being equipped with masks to ensure they do not suffocate in their
sleep. Dr Steve Ryan, medical director of Alder Hey children's hospital
in Liverpool, said: "There are more and more of these children and significant
numbers are obese from two or three years old. "When I was a paediatrician
starting out in 1991, there were very few children overweight but that has changed
and we are starting to see complications resulting from this. "It is here
and we are having to deal with it." But while British youngsters totter
near the top of the heavyweight league, children in other countries are starting
to lose weight. New data shows rates of childhood obesity are stabilising
in France and falling in Switzerland. Restrictions on the advertising of
junk food to children, the banning of vending machines in schools and national
healthy eating drives may all have played a role in the change, the European Congress
on Obesity heard yesterday. Obesity experts welcomed the figures but warned
the situation is still bleak - particularly in the UK, where rates of child obesity
have quadrupled since 1984. Dr Lobstein, director of the IASO's childhood
obesity programme, said: "It is encouraging that there may be some signs this
tidal wave of obesity is easing but it is not really subsiding, it is only stopping
at a high level. "The tide has come in but it is not going out. And in
Britain, it is still coming in and is rising. The old picture of a jolly fat person
couldn't be further from the truth. "Although some fat people might indeed
be jolly, the majority don't enjoy their condition and wish they were slim." Dr
Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said childhood obesity
could only be tackled by parents, schools and government working together. Safe,
accessible exercise facilities and nourishing and affordable meals should be a
priority, he said. Where to next? | 
