Europe's generation of obese children

Numbers of overweight children rising

Obesity is a major threat to future generations of European children, warn health experts.

The rising numbers of overweight adults will continue to increase unless the problem is tackled in children, they say.

We owe it to our children to do all we can to protect their health

Professor Philip James

Obesity among children in the US is already well documented, but now the problem is thought to be spreading throughout Europe.

Obesity is linked to diabetes, heart disease and cancer in later life - and there is already anecdotal evidence of cases among younger people.

Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, issued the warning to the European Congress on Obesity (ECOG) in Antwerp.

He said: "Unless we can act firmly and decisively, we will be condemning a huge number of children across the whole of Europe to becoming a lost generation.

"They will face many of the weight-related diseases at a much earlier stage and will have their lives shortened as a result.

"We owe it to our children to do all we can to protect their health."

Dismal future

The conference was told of a dismal future of obese generations hooked on high-calorie diets, television and computers.

Professor Jaap Seidell, president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, said: "We must persuade governments to spend more on the adequate treatment of obesity and for health promotion to prevent obesity."

The food, television and computer industries should also be involved in the fight, he said.

The ECOG recommends at least an hour of exercise a day in schools, control over children's lunches and snacks, and more sporting activity outside school.

Children's body mass index - a comparison of height and weight - should be measured yearly, it adds.

A spokesman for the British Diabetic Association said: "Type 2 diabetes tends to be diagnosed in the over 40s, but it is increasingly a problem in the US for children because of obesity.

"We have heard anecdotal evidence of younger people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes here."