LONDON - The
number of overweight children worldwide will increase
significantly by the end of the decade, and scientists expect
profound impacts on everything from public health care to
economies, a study published Monday said.
Nearly half of
the children in North and South America will be overweight by
2010, up from what recent studies say is about one-third,
according to a report published by the International Journal
of Pediatric Obesity.
In the European
Union, about 38 percent of all children will be overweight if
present trends continue — up from about 25 percent in recent
surveys, the study said.
“We have truly a global epidemic
which appears to be affecting most countries in the
world,” said Dr. Philip James, chairman of the
International Obesity Task Force and author of an
editorial in the journal warning of the trend.
The percentages
of overweight children also are expected to increase
significantly in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Mexico,
Chile, Brazil and Egypt have rates comparable to fully
industrialized nations, James said.
He estimated
that, for example, one in five children in China will be
overweight by 2010.
“They’re
being bombarded like they are in the West to eat all the wrong
foods. The Western world’s food industries without even
realizing it have precipitated an epidemic with enormous
health consequences,” he said.
More
junk food, less exercise
James said living in isolated areas was no longer a safeguard
to securing quality of life or traditional eating habits.
He said
children are “being exposed to the world’s marketing
might,” arguing that governments should step in. “There
needs to be a ban on all forms of marketing, not just
television adverts.”
Researchers
analyzed a variety of published medical reports on obesity
from 1980 to 2005 and World Health Organization data. They
were able to track the growth rate of obesity in school-age
populations in 25 countries and in preschoolers in 42
countries.
Researchers concluded that the
prevalence of childhood obesity increased in almost all the
countries for which data were available, a trend fueled by
more sedentary lives and the increasing availability of junk
food, among other factors.
The public
health consequences of the trend alarm experts, said Dr.
Phillip Thomas, a surgeon unconnected to the study who works
extensively with obese patients in the northwest England city
of Manchester.
Because obese
children tend to carry the problem into adulthood, Thomas and
other doctors say they will tend to be sicker as they get
older, suffering from heart disease, stroke and other ailments
stemming from their weight.
“This is
going to be the first generation that’s going to have a
lower life expectancy than their parents,” Thomas said.
“It’s like the plague is in town and no one is
interested.”
Another doctor
who examined the journal report was Dr. Brian McCrindle, a
childhood obesity expert and professor of pediatrics with a
pediatric hospital in Toronto.
He warned that
the looming problem must be addressed.
“The wave of
heart disease and stroke could totally swamp the public health
care system,” he said.
He warned that
lawmakers had to take a broader view of the looming problem
— and consider doing things such as banning trans fats and
legislating against direct advertising of junk food toward
children.
“It’s not
going to be enough any more just to say to the consumer ’You
have to change your behavior,”’ he said.
© 2006 The Associated Press.
March 2006
