Concerns have been raised regarding the increased weight gain exhibited by children of a certain age, with researchers asserting that our youth are experiencing problems with their weight at an increasingly young age.
Problems born of this trend include the development of chronic health conditions, such as coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes, with experts warning: “In the absence of effective intervention, overweight and obesity will have severe public health consequences in decades to come.”
The study, which has been published in American journal, PLOS Medicine, was based on research carried out on more than 56,000 participants born in the UK between 1946 and 2001.
Figures show that women who were born in 1946 became obese at the age of 48 while those born in 1970 were categorised as obese at the age of 41.
Similarly, researchers discovered that men born in 1946 were classed as overweight at 41 while those born in 1970 became obese at the age of 30.
Commenting on the study, researchers said: “Many more children are overweight or obese than in previous generations and, if the observed trends in adulthood BMI continue, the majority of children are likely to develop overweight or obesity at some point in their lives and at younger ages than did previous generation.”
Researchers insist that early intervention is vital when attempting to tackle the problem, with Professor Rebecca Hardy of UCL asserting: “While other research has shown that losing weight at any point in adulthood can help reduce the risk, this study indicates that the UK needs to target its public health interventions at younger and younger ages in order to stem the spread of the obesity epidemic.”
Latest figures regarding childhood obesity show that one third of 10 to 11-year-olds are overweight or obese while more than one fifth of four to five-year-olds are considered obese.
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