Obesity reaches crisis point in Britain

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Here’s a thought from the UK Obesity statistics: About 46 per cent of men in England and 32 percent of women are overweight – meaning the have a body mass index of 25-30 kg/m2. An additional 17 per cent of men and 21 per cent of women are obese - a body mass index of more than 30 kg/m2.

Recently the obesity problem in the UK has been called: The disease of our time. This comes as the latest government figures show no drop in the number of children who are obese, despite an array of strategies to tackle the problem. The latest research warns that one in three adults in the UK will be obese by 2012.

Starting early

Data from the National Child Measurement scheme shows that at the age of 11, 33 per cent of children are overweight or obese. Compared to children in the 1980s, today's youngsters are fatter and most of their excess weight gain happens before school age.

In the same light the EarlyBird Diabetes study, studied 233 children from birth to puberty and will be published in the journal Pediatrics. This study suggests that initiatives to prevent childhood obesity should be started before school.

UK researchers said 9,000 adults die early every year because of obesity-related illness.

Using data on 128,000 adults in the Health Survey for England, a research team from University College London, calculated that 13m adults will be obese by the time London hosts the Olympic Games.

Lead researcher of the EarlyBird study, Professor Terry Wilkin believes diet rather than lack of physical exercise could be to blame for the problem.

Weight at five years bares little relation to birth weight, but can closely predict weight at the age of nine years old. Before an obese girl reaches school age she will have already gained 90 per cent of her excess weight, and boys will have gained 70 per cent of their excess weight.

"What is causing it is very difficult to know.", Prof Wilkin said and continued by saying there must be a dietary factor now that was not there 25 years ago which is making today's children obese.

Prof Wilkin believes that strategies to prevent childhood obesity and its associated health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, might do better to focus on pre-school children. According to him until now there’s been a lot of focus on school meals, PE time, school runs, television viewing and computer games in the development of childhood obesity, but these are all issues for school age children.

However, mandatory measurement of the height and weight of all children in England on school entry at the age of four or five could be helpful, not only as a record of national obesity trends, but also as a pointer to future risks for the individual child.

Never too late

Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said it was "horrifying" that one in three children were overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school. He added: "The costs and impact of obesity, both for individuals and the health service are enormous… The NHS ultimately faces bankruptcy if we fail on this."

Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer for England, said it was no exaggeration to describe soaring rates of obesity as an "impending crisis".

He added: "It is never too late. Obesity is one of the few serious medical problems that can be reversed very, very quickly… We need to get in early and build the foundations to healthy living from a very early stage."

Sir Liam said eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day was one of the most important elements of a healthy diet.

Sources:

‘UK Obesity Statistics’ published online annecollins.com

‘UK is warned over obesity levels’, published online 11/12/08, news.bbc.co.uk

‘Obesity ‘ set before the age of five’, published online 17/12/08, news.bbc.co.uk

‘Simple Change Could Reduce Obesity in U.S. by 20 per cent’ published online, articles.mercola.com