Almost Two Million Children Overweight In UK, 700,000 Are Obese

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Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Nutrition / Diet;  Sports Medicine / Fitness
Article Date: 03 Apr 2006 - 16:00 PST

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The number of overweight schoolchildren in the UK is almost two million, of which about 700,000 are obese, according to a study carried out by the International Obesity Taskforce. Over 25% of girls and 20% of boys are overweight.

The number of UK schoolchildren who have high blood pressure and cholesterol levels has reached 160,000.

If this trend towards more obese and overweight children continues, the UK could be facing a serious national health crisis in a decade's time, say researchers.

With fewer and fewer playing fields in the UK, in comparison to ten or twenty years ago, British children are becoming less physically active at scholl. Add to this the change in eating habits among young children, and the reasons for this growing childhood obesity problem becomes evident.

British children are eating more and more of the wrong foods and doing less and less exercise.

The number of hours children spend either watching TV or sitting in front of some kind of screen at home has increased.

You can read about this study in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity.

According to the report, there are already over 4,000 British children with Type 2 Diabetes symptoms. 58,000 have bad glucose tolerance.

As children are not generally screened for blood pressure or indications of Diabetes Type 2 symptoms, it is hard to say exactly how many children are currently at risk. When these children become young adults and start to go to their doctors with complaints, perhaps the full extent of the problem will be known.

Health professionals throughout Britain are calling on authorities to ban the advertising of junk foods targeted at children.

-- Obesity Rates Worldwide

-- International Association for the Study of Obesity

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today