Childhood Obesity

Sydney Principles Consultation: Click here

British Medical Association backs IOTF childhood obesity report.

The BMA report concludes: "The BMA agrees with the International Obesity TaskForce that in order to halt the obesity epidemic,

‘interventions at the family or school level will need to be matched by changes in the social and cultural context so that the benefits can be sustained and enhanced. Such prevention strategies will require a coordinated effort between the medical community, health administrators, teachers, parents, food producers and processors, retailers and caterers, advertisers and the media, recreation and sport planners, urban architects, city planners, politicians and legislators’.

Environments that encourage healthy eating and active living are vitally important. The focus of such strategies should be to make it easier for the public to make healthy choices. Such strategies require funding for implementation, but should ultimately lead to a reduction in the costs to the NHS from obesity related ill health."

CLICK HERE to link to the BMA webpage to download the British Medical Association report on childhood obesity - June 22 2005

Overweight and obesity in children have escalated dramatically in England over the past 20 years:

By the IOTF's international standards nearly 22% of boys and 27.5% of girls aged 2-15 were found to be overweight, including 5.5% of boys and 7.2% of girls who were obese in 2002. The IOTF analysis indicates a marked acceleration in the trend from the mid-1980s onwards.

Using the national Body Mass Index percentiles approach (adopted by the Department of Health assuming 15% overweight including 5% obesity in 1990) 30.3 % of boys and 30.7% of girls were overweight, including 16% who were obese, by 2002.

These Department of Health statistics are available on:

http://www.official-documents.co.uk/document/deps/doh/survey02/hcyp/tables/hcypt159.htm


Links Charting the rise in childhood overweight and obesity in England (click for larger image):

Dr John Reilly on childhood obesity - The Scotsman Feb 17 2005

Department of Health key facts on obesity Spring 2004

IOTF report to WHO - Obesity in children and young people: A crisis in public health (published in the journal Obesity Reviews May 2004)

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on childhood obesity - Sep 2003

BEST PRACTICE The obese child Mary C J Rudolf - Archives of Disease in Childhood Education and Practice Edition 2004;89:ep57-ep62

The Global Picture:

Children are becoming increasingly vulnerable to overweight and obesity around the world.

At least 155 million school-age children worldwide are overweight or obese, according to the latest estimates from the International Obesity TaskForce.

The IOTF’s report, Obesity in children and young people: A crisis in public health, is published as a supplement to Obesity Reviews, IASO’s official review journal. (subscribers click here)

It says that one in 10 children is overweight, a total of 155 million. Around 30-45 million within that figure are classified as obese - accounting for 2-3% of the world’s children aged 5-17. A further 22 million younger children are also affected according to previous IOTF global estimates based on WHO data for under fives.

Press releases providing further details on childhood obesity are posted in the media section. See:

May 28 - EU childhood obesity “out of control”

May 12 - IOTF demands action on childhood obesity crisis

May 12 - Obesity and overweight rates have risen dramatically among English schoolchildren

Contact: Dr Tim Lobstein

The IOTF is working with associated groups worldwide to examine the rapid changes in childhood overweight and obesity. Regional task forces have been established in several parts of the world. CLICK HERE to view the European Childhood Obesity Group website.

An earlier IOTF working group investigated how best to assess the level of overweight and obesity relating this to adult measures using body mass index. The first proposal was published in 2000 in the British Medical Journal. Click on the title below to view the British Medical Journal paper:

Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide:
international survey

Tim J Cole, professor of medical statistics a, Mary C Bellizzi, health policy officer b, Katherine M Flegal, senior research scientist c, William H Dietz, director d.a Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Institute of Child Health, London WC1N 1EH, b International Obesity Task Force Secretariat, London NW1 2NS, c National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville MD 20782, USA, d Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Atlanta GA 30341-3724, USA

PEDIATRICS Vol. 109 No. 5 May 2002, pp. e81
Guijing Wang, PhD and William H. Dietz, MD, PhD

Economic Burden of Obesity in Youths Aged 6 to 17 Years: 1979-1999

PEDIATRICS: Dr William Dietz

Health Consequences of Obesity in Youth: Childhood Predictors of Adult Disease

American Academy of Pediatrics: AAP Journal - Pediatrics

Rise in childhood obesity linked to increase in type 2 diabetes

Cholesterol in Childhood

Obesity related to early puberty in young girls

International Pediatric Association:

FISPGHAN: