Title: Nearly one in four British children overweight or obese, claims study | Society | The Guardian
Headings: Nearly one in four British children overweight or obese, claims study
Obesity
Nearly one in four British children overweight or obese, claims study

Content: Nearly one in four British children overweight or obese, claims study | Society | The Guardian
Obesity
Nearly one in four British children overweight or obese, claims study
UK has second-highest proportion of overweight under-fives after Ireland in 28 countries studied, while body dissatisfaction prevalent in young age groups
Press Association
Wed 6 May 2015 19.16 EDT
Last modified on Wed 20 Sep 2017
14.51 EDT
Dietary restraint reported from overweight schoolchildren was said by researchers to carry the danger of compromising the quality of a child’s diet at a crucial stage of their development. Photograph: Rex Features
Nearly a quarter of British children under the age of five are overweight or obese, research has found. The study, which is being presented at the European congress on obesity in Prague this week, found that the UK has the second-highest proportion of overweight children out of the 28 countries that were able to provide data. With 23.1% of youngsters in the under-five age group classed as overweight or obese, the UK was second only to Ireland, which registered 27.5%. Britain was followed by Albania (22%), Georgia (20%), Bulgaria (19.8%) and Spain (18.4%). Kazahkstan had the lowest obesity rate (0.6%), while other low-prevalence nations included Czech Republic (5.5%) Belgium (7%) and Sweden (8%). Another study, also due to be presented at the congress, found that children as young as six are suffering dissatisfaction with their bodies. The research, carried out by Leeds Beckett university, found that children who were classed as overweight or obese on body mass index (BMI) growth charts had higher body shape dissatisfaction scores than children not classed as overweight. Girls also scored higher in this area than boys.