4 May, 2005

UK kids in fat crisis

Having eaten unhealthy food like fish and chips, Mars bars and BK's Whopper, British kids are getting fatter. And the epidemic of childhood obesity is getting serious indeed.

According to the Department of Health, the prevalence of obesity among children under the age of eleven rose from 9.9% to 13.7% between 1995 and 2003.

Especially, an age group between eight to ten showed the biggest increase - from 11.2% to 16.5% over the eight-year period.

Dr Ian Campbell of the National Obesity Forum said; "These statistics are very worrying indeed."

"It's the fact that calories have become cheaper and exercise expensive."

In my opinion, unhealthy diet and eating disorder among kids are mainly caused by two factors; one is domination of for-profit, mass-produced, unhealthy food such as chocolate bars and hamburgers; and the other can be Britain's food culture that is interpreted as this question - Do parents cook by themselves for kids?

As we saw Jamie Oliver's Feed Me Better, British kids' diet is in crisis.

» BBC News | England's children getting fatter