Children are getting both SHORTER and fatter, while British boys are at the bottom of the international rankings – and experts fear junk food diets may have stunted the growth of a generation
British children face a lifetime of poor health as junk food diets have stunted their growth and fueled a rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes, a damning report has warned.
The Food Foundation says children are growing up in an environment that makes feeding children healthy “an almost impossibly difficult challenge.”
It blames the ‘aggressive promotion’ of foods high in fat, sugar and salt and ‘shocking’ poverty levels, putting healthier alternatives out of reach for some families.
Policies to improve nutritional intake have been ‘lackluster and grossly inadequate’ to tackle the severity of the problem, the charity added.
The result is the ‘worrying deterioration’ in children’s well-being, with babies born now expected to be a year less healthy than babies born ten years ago.
More than a million children had their height and weight measured as part of the National Child Measurement Program (NCMP). Nationally, the rate among children in the sixth form is well over a third, despite falling slightly since the start of Covid
Among sixth grade students, national obesity decreased from 23.4 percent in 2021/2022 to 22.7 percent. Meanwhile, the proportion of children considered overweight or obese also fell from 37.8 percent to 36.6 percent. Both measures are above pre-pandemic levels
The report highlights the ‘very worrying’ increase in conditions caused by ‘high-calorie diets’, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
But it highlights that there is an “equally worrying” and “paradoxical” rise in malnutrition, which is hampering children’s mental and physical development.
Obesity among 10 and 11 year olds has increased by 30 percent since 2006 and more than one in five children are now obese by the time they leave primary school.
The first cases of type 2 diabetes in adolescents were diagnosed in Britain in 2000 and have increased significantly since then, tripling between 2012/13 and 2020/21, the report said.
Meanwhile, the average height of 5-year-olds has fallen since 2013, after years of progress, with British boys ranked shortest and girls second shortest among developed countries.
This followed a reduction in consumption of key nutrients including calcium, zinc, vitamin A, folic acid and iron.
The report – A Generation Neglected: Reversing the decade in child’s health in England – warns that the failure to get to grips with the underlying problems will lead to ‘a generation burdened with diet-related illness throughout their lives’.
It says eight in 10 obese adolescents remain obese as adults, increasing their risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Furthermore, this obesity is estimated to cost Britain £98 billion a year.
The report adds: ‘These findings raise fundamental questions about the nutritional quality of the food children eat, alongside wider socio-economic forces that shape the conditions for the optimal growth and development of young children.
‘To ensure that all children can thrive and grow up healthily, it is essential that they have access to a diet that provides all the essential nutrients.
‘What’s so troubling about the health problems highlighted in this report is that they are largely preventable.
‘No child should have to suffer like this if they simply have a basic right to access healthy food.
‘All children should be able to eat in a way that fuels their bodies and minds, giving them enough calories and nutrients to be free from hunger and disease from nutritional deficiencies, while protecting them from the bombardment of ultra-processed, sugary and salty foods which usually contribute to excessive calorie intake, but are deficient in vitamins, minerals, fiber, healthy fats and high-quality proteins.’
Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, described the situation as a “national shame” and said it should be their right to give children access to the nutrition they need.
Baroness Anne Jenkin, a Conservative peer and campaigner on food poverty, said: ‘The health of the country, especially that of our children, has never been worse and hardly anyone is talking about it.
“This is a time bomb waiting to explode if no action is taken.”
Henry Dimbleby, the government’s former food tsar and author of the National Food Strategy, said: ‘The decline in children’s health clearly shown in this report is a shocking and deeply sad result of the failure of the food system in Great Britain. -Britain.
“We need the next administration to take decisive action to make healthy and sustainable food affordable, stop the constant flow of junk food and realize that investing in children’s health is an investment in the country’s future. ‘
And former Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: ‘Every mother and father in the country will be concerned and shocked at what is happening to children because of lack of nutrition.’