Yes, recent figures have shown an alarming increase in childhood obesity in the UK and follow the trends seen for adult obesity. Adult obesity increased in England from 6% of men and 8% of women in 1980 to 21% of men and 23.5% of women in 2001 – a three-fold increase in 20 years. Similar increases are seen in children.
The National Study of Health and Growth measured primary school children’s weight and height over a period from 1972 to 1994. These data have recently been re-analysed using the internationally agreed cut-offs for BMI based on adult BMI categories (Cole, Bellizzi et al. 2000) (
see link). They found no increase in the prevalence of overweight or obesity between 1974 and 1984 but a marked increase between 1984 and 1994(Chinn and Rona 2001). This analysis found that the prevalence of overweight increased from 5.4% to 9.0% in English boys and from 9.3% to 13.5% in English girls, ie by over 50% in boys and just under 50% in girls. In Scottish children the prevalence increased from 6.4% to 10.0% in boys and from 10.4% to 15.8% in girls, again an increase of about 50%. The prevalence of obesity increased in English children from 0.6% to 1.7% in boys and 1.3% to 2.7% in girls whilst in Scottish children the prevalence increased from 0.9% to 2.1% in boys and 1.8% to 3.2% in girls. This shows that rates of obesity in primary school children more than doubled for all except Scottish girls over the 10 years from 1984 to 1994.
McCarthy, Ellis and Cole (McCarthy, Ellis et al. 2003) compared the findings of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey carried out in 1997 with surveys carried out in 1977 for boys and in 1987 for girls. The children were aged 11-16 years. They found that the prevalence of overweight increased from 7.7% to 20.6% in boys over a 20 year period and from 5.9% to 17.3% in girls over a 10 year period. The prevalence of obesity increased from 3.3% to 10.0% in boys over 20 years (a three-fold increase) and from 1.6% to 8.3% in girls over 10 years (a five-fold increase). This comparison suggests that rates of obesity are increasing faster in girls than in boys, although caution should be expressed when comparing different surveys due to possible differences in methodology. This same analysis found that rates of obesity as measured by waist circumference had increased by an even greater extent suggesting that body composition has also changed over this time period.
Bundred, Kitchiner and Buchan (Bundred, Kitchiner et al. 2001) reported data on overweight and obesity in children aged 2 – 4 years in Liverpool taken from health visitors records from 1989 to 1998. They found an increase in the prevalence of overweight from 14.7% to 23.6% and in obesity from 5.4% to 9.2%: increases of greater than 50% over a 10 year period.
These studies show that rates of childhood obesity doubled over the 10 years from 1984 to 1994 and suggest that they might have been increasing at a faster rate since then. They show that increases in the prevalence of obesity are occurring in all ages and that prevention needs to begin at an early age.
Bundred, P., D. Kitchiner, et al. (2001). "Prevalence of overweight and obese children between 1989 and 1998:population based series of cross-sectional studies." BMJ 322: 326.
Chinn, S. and R. J. Rona (2001). "Prevalence and trends in overweight and obesity in three cross-sectional studies of British children, 1974-1994." BMJ 322: 24-26.
Cole, T., M. Bellizzi, et al. (2000). "Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey." BMJ 320: 1240-1243.
McCarthy, H. D., S. M. Ellis, et al. (2003). "Central overweight and obesity in British youth aged 11-16 years:cross-sectional surveys of waist circumference." BMJ 326: 624.
