Children of the 90s more likely to be overweight or obese

Conclusion The study shows how, while the whole population of England has become heavier over the past 70 years, different generations have been affected in different ways. People born in 1946 were, on average, normal weight until their 40s, but this group has since seen their weight rise and they are now, on average, overweight. By the time they reached 60, 75% of men and 66% of women from this group were overweight or obese. People born in 1946 from the heaviest cohorts, who were already overweight in early adulthood, are now likely to be obese or very obese. For people born since 1946, the chance of being overweight as young adults, adolescents or children has been increasing. The chances of being overweight or obese by the age of 40 was 65% for men born in 1958 (45% for women) and 67% for men born in 1970 (49% for women). The chances of children born in 2001 being overweight or obese by the age of 10 are almost three times that of the children born in 1946. We can deduce from the figures that something may have happened during the 1980s – the decade when the earliest birth cohort's average group moved from normal weight to overweight – to increase the chances of people of all ages becoming overweight or obese. What these figures can't tell us is what that was, despite the researchers' assertion this was a change to an obesogenic environment. Still, it seems plausible that a combination of high-calorie, low-cost food and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle – b...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Pregnancy/child Source Type: news