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Page 1 — Number of obese children has increased tenfold

Page 2 — more calories, less exercise

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More exercise, healthier food: means against childhood obesity sound simple. Neverless, number of overweight and extremely overweight children has increased drastically in last decades worldwide. 124 million five to nineteen-year-olds are obese, so obese, anor 213 million overweight. This is estimated by scientists from World Health Organization (WHO) and Imperial College London in a study that has appeared on today's World Obesity Day in journal The Lancet. As a result, number of children who are far too heavy for ir body size has increased tenfold over last forty years worldwide.

So last year, six percent of girls and almost eight percent of boys were obese. 1975 were less than one percent of children and adolescents. This is a "staggering rate of change", says health scientist Fiona Bull of WHO.

The world population has grown significantly during this period. But that explains only a small part of increase, said Majid Ezzati of Imperial College, main author of study. The number of obese in poorer countries and middle-income countries, including China and India, is alarmingly developing. In high-income states, such as in North America or Europe, share of heavily overweight children has stagnated in recent years at a high level.

Many families cannot afford a healthy meal

The data coincides with studies that are subject to extreme overweight even among young children up to five years and among adults (New England Journal of Medicine: The Bldg 2015 obesity Collaborators, 2017). In Germany alone, proportion of obese children rose from about three percent in year 1975 to seven percent of girls and eleven percent of boys last year.

Wher children increase depends on several factors. On one hand, in many countries today it is much easier to take over calories. Food is readily available almost everywhere, especially unhealthy fast food. Americans, for example, are spending more and more money to eat away, instead of cooking, although latter is often healthier.

In many places – this also says study author Majid Ezzati – poor families cannot afford a healthy meal. Healthy means: whole wheat, with fresh vegetables and fruit. Policymakers need to ensure that healthy diets are affordable for poorer families.

Date Of Update: 11 October 2017, 12:07