IOTF Media Statement

 

For World Heart Day  September 25 2005 – immediate release

 

Halting childhood obesity holds key to stemming the scourge of heart disease

 

An unacceptable proportion of the world’s children are being doomed to follow a downward spiral towards heart disease because of continuing failures to address diet and activity, experts warn today.

 

Children as young as three are already showing the first signs of deterioration in their arteries due to poor quality diets high in fats, sugar and salt, but as they grow older the damage becomes less reversible with more serious impact on their long term heart health.

 

Supporting the World Heart Day theme of ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Shape’, the International Obesity TaskForce (IOTF), part of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, warned that the heavy human and financial burden of chronic diseases including heart disease would cripple future health resources and drain economic productivity unless the epidemic of childhood obesity was tackled immediately with a greater sense of urgency by the food industry, governments and civil society.

 

The IOTF has already highlighted that children are increasingly being affected by metabolic syndrome, a combination of risks factors relating to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In the USA it is estimated that more than 2,000,000 youngsters are affected while in Europe the IOTF estimates the figure to be more than 550,000.[1],[2]

 

Preliminary evidence from parts of Asia suggests that children there are already being affected. One study in Hong Kong showed that westernization of the diet meant that children under seven years old were being affected by abnormal cholesterol levels due to higher fat intakes.[3]

 

Speaking in Durban, during the 18th International Congress on Nutrition, IOTF chairman Professor Philip James said that the problem of childhood obesity was now a major threat to most parts of the developing world. “The problem in evidence among Hong Kong’s children in the last decade is being swiftly transferred to China’s mainland where the economic transformation is bringing rapid urbanization, and westernized diets are becoming increasingly promoted.”

 

“It is clear that we need to take a comprehensive approach to addressing the factors driving the obesity epidemic. We need to see a more aggressive approach to reformulating processed ‘factory’ foods to reduce fat, sugar and salt in the diet, and to increase the amount of fresh food we consume, particularly fruits and vegetables. We need to cut the consumption of sugary drinks and stop treating children both in and out of school as a target market merely to increase sales and profits with little thought for their health.”

 

“The food industry has been challenged to act rapidly, with not just new options but a fundamental change in the ingredients of all their products. We need to halt the childhood obesity epidemic or else we will be overwhelmed by chronic diseases in the future.”

 

 

[Ends]

 

For further information contact:

 

Neville Rigby

Director of Policy and Public Affairs

IASO International Obesity TaskForce

231 North Gower Street

London NW1 2NP

Tel: +44 207 6911902

Mob: +44 7939250347

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


[1] Duncan GE, Li SM, Zhou XH. Prevalence and trends of a metabolic syndrome phenotype among U.S. adolescents, 19992000

Diabetes Care. 2004 Oct;27(10):243843.

[2] IOTF estimate. Childhood Obesity Workshop, European Congress of Obesity, Athens, June 2005 – www.iotf.org/media/ iotfmetsynjun1.pdf

[3] Leung SF et al Fat intake in Hong Kong Chinese children American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 72, No. 5, 1373S-1378s, November 2000