Children's waistlines growing

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 24 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Children have expanded two clothing sizes in the last twenty years, according to health experts.

The Archives of Diseases in Childhood reveal that girls are getting fatter at a faster rate than boys.

Children now have waistlines that are four centimetres bigger than they were twenty years ago.

These statistics were worked out by studying the waist lines of 500 kids from eighteen different schools throughout the UK.

'This figure is all the more disturbing when one reflects on how many notches on a belt this represents,' Dr Mary Rudolf, of East Leeds Primary Care Trust, told the British Medical Journal, She is one of the authors of the new report.

The researchers compared their results today with a similar study twenty years ago.

The children's weight gain was more than one would expect when taking into account their gain in height.

In the year 1996 ten per cent of boys and twelve per cent of girls were overweight. Today the figures are 14% of boys and 17% of girls.

The biggest increase in waist size has been since 1996.

Dr Rudolf said 'The previous rise in body mass index levels reported through primary schools has continued into secondary school and emphasises the need for more rigorous efforts to stem the tide of child obesity.'

The UK is becoming the fat man of Europe, say many experts.

The UK government is becoming increasingly concerned with these figures. The whole population as a whole is getting fatter and fatter.

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