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Is The Obesity Crisis Now Under Control?
News today that the rate at which children are becoming obese has fallen. The number of boys predicted to be overweight or obese by 2020 is now 30% instead of the 42% previously predicted. It seems that girls are doing better than boys too, with predicted numbers falling from 42% to 27%. This is still a huge number of children that are likely to be of an unhealthy weight though.
The research was carried out by National Heart Forum. They had this to say on the matter:
continued below ....“These trends present a more positive picture that obesity may be leveling off in children. However, prevalence and current trends of excess weight are still unacceptably high and these figures should not be taken as an argument for complacency. The government needs to keep up the work they are doing to tackle obesity.” Prof. Klim McPherson
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Obesity rates have been rising since the 1970’s. A combination of more home comforts, central heating, processed foods and television have all helps to fuel the epidemic. Before the 1970’s children would play outside a majority of the time – there was simply nothing to do in the house – not even television to watch. Children played with friends, usually being out for most of the day. Now all this has changed. It has taken the nation 40 years to take some control of the obesity epidemic, but we may now be getting to on top of the problem.
The next task is much bigger – to reverse the problem. The current credit crunch is making things worse again, with cheaper and less healthy food options being chosen. However, people are now more aware of the health problems and spotting the signs of weight gain before the problem becomes almost impossible to manage. As more parents realize that they are responsible for encouraging their children to exercise more and eat healthily, the rates of obesity should decline.
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