Poor Kids Getting Fatter, Rich Kids Getting Thinner

twice as many obese girls in poor backgrounds in the very near future

A study done by University College London has shown that childhood obesity differs across the socio economic spectrum and that the gap is widening. The researchers said that while obesity rates among children between the age of two and ten who came from wealthy backgrounds were leveling off, the obesity rates for lower classes seemed to be increasing dramatically and among girls could even double by the year 2015.

They got their data from looking at statistics collected by the UK government’s ‘Health Survey for England’. They saw that at the moment 7.4% of girls and 6.9% of boys are classified as obese with a percentage difference between lower and higher classes of 0.6% for boys and 1.5% for girls. By analysing historical obesity trends they said that it looked like that by the year 2015 the rates could be more than 10% for boys and almost 9% for girls.

The researchers said that the majority of new cases of obesity were likely to come from lower class backgrounds whereas those who came from professional upper class backgrounds would start to diminish creating a possibility which could lead to twice as many obese girls in poor backgrounds in the very near future. They said the class gap would not be so prevalent in boys but nevertheless would be statistically significant.

It seems that everybody has their own idea as to why wealthier families have a smaller number of obese children and there are many different factors which play a part. At Ukmedix News we believe that education and legislation are the way forward if the UK government is serious about tackling what is likely to become a chronic nationwide health problem.

It is much easier for wealthy families to get proper medical and nutritional advice as well as to purchase healthy food, get memberships to gyms and to live healthier lives and therefore this effort to combat obesity must be focused at all different levels of society. The UK government must invest in educational campaigns and must legislate against fast food restaurants and their relentless promotion of their junk food to children.