America isn’t the only country straddled with the obesity problem. Two extreme cases involve a six and eight year old who died of obesity-related strokes.

The article looks at percentages of babies leaving the womb with weight problems and toddlers hospitalized for obesity. In the UK, one stone equals 14 pounds. Ten-stone would be a 140 pound person in the US. Crisps are what the English call potato chips.

One can only imagine the percentages here. Naked Chef Jamie Oliver packed up his family and moved here to film Food Revolution convinced that the American obesity epidemic was far worse in the US. Of course, it was a great commercial opportunity but Europe is more informed when it comes to labeling and some harmful food additives have been banned.

~Health Freedoms

Dramatic evidence showing how young children and even babies are falling victim to the obesity epidemic is disclosed today.

Babies are being treated in hospital because of their weight – some after being weaned on puréed junk food – and children as young as six are suffering strokes.

Doctors say rising numbers of babies and toddlers are being diagnosed as clinically obese and even suffering weight-linked diseases that normally appear in later life.

Figures show that hundreds of children under three are being treated for obesity at hospitals around the country. At least 40 babies aged under one have been admitted in the past five years.

Public health experts warned that because hospitals only see the most extreme cases, the true levels of obesity among babies and young children will be far higher.

Specialists working in hospital obesity clinics report that they are seeing one year-olds who weigh as much as three stone – nearly twice as much as healthy youngsters of the same age.

They say much of the problem is being caused by parents who attempt to wean their babies while they are too young and feed them inappropriate foods.

Doctors have seen babies fed crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks. In some cases parents have been found to be giving their infants puréed chips with milk, or mashing up takeaway food.

Experts said some parents needed to be taught what to feed babies. The data also shows that many of the overweight children are suffering breathing difficulties and displaying the early signs of obesity-related Type 2 diabetes.

In two extreme examples, a six year-old and an eight year-old suffered strokes that were thought to have resulted from their weight.

The figures, which were released by 66 of Britain’s 168 acute hospital trusts under the Freedom of Information Act, show that more than 5,500 children under the age of 16 were diagnosed or treated for obesity in hospitals in the past five years.

Some of the youngsters had surgery such as gastric bands and gastric bypasses to treat their condition.

In one case a 15 year-old who weighed more than 25 stone was treated at a hospital in North Staffordshire before her family took her to Mexico to have a gastric band fitted.

Entire families have also been sent on healthy eating and dietary counselling courses.

Forty-four of the hospital trusts contacted provided figures for diagnosis and treatment broken down by age. Four hundred children under five were treated in hospital after being diagnosed with clinical obesity. These included 40 children under one, 49 one year-olds and 85 two year-olds.

Dr Ken Ong, clinical lead for childhood obesity at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, said: “I certainly see children under the age of two years old. We are seeing more and more referrals in that age range.

“The one and two year-olds we see are massively obese but it is only the very extreme who are coming to hospital clinics. There will be many more who are in the community or are not being recognised at all.

“The popular hope is that it is just baby fat and they will grow out of it, but our studies show that it is more likely to continue being obese and even become more obese.”

Professor Mary Rudolf, a consultant paediatrician in Leeds and spokesman on obesity for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the figures provided by the hospitals were likely to only be the tip of the iceberg.

She said: “I think these figures will be a gross underestimate of the extent of infantile obesity if anything.

“There is a lack of awareness in the community and primary care that obesity can start at such a young age.

“There is a general myth that babies’ puppy fat will disappear as they get older. It is very concerning when babies are extremely overweight as the general trajectory is that they will continue to track that obesity into adulthood.”

She added: “Part of the problem is that hospital services for obesity are extremely lacking across the country, so children who could benefit from being seen are just not being seen.”

By the time they leave primary school, one in three children is classified as overweight or obese.

Research suggests that unhealthy eating can “programme” young children’s tastes for the rest of their life.

Other researchers are finding evidence that a child’s genes may be programmed in the womb by the lifestyle of their parents.

Professor Terence Wilkin, a consultant in endocrinology and metabolism at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, said: “In the first year or two of life it is easy for children to be pushed by the wrong influences onto the wrong growth curve.

“There has been a tendency for health visitors to push rather hard for children who are underweight to be fed up so they meet the average weight. The problem is that then causes the average weight to increase.”

Paul Sacher, of the British Dietetic Association and chief research officer for MEND, a charity that runs obesity treatment and prevention programmes, said many parents simply did not know what they should be feeding their children.

He added: “I see children all the time who are being given a lolly, a chocolate bar or packet of crisps. I see mums pouring fizzy pop into their baby’s bottles and in parts of Wales they put chips in milk in bottles.”

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/8570733/Obese-ch...