The 'fat epidemic' is, fear experts, beginning at an even earlier age. In just ten years, the number of overweight pre-school children in the UK has increased by almost ten per cent, from 14.7 per cent to 23.6 per cent, while obesity has nearly doubled to almost 10 per cent.
Experts describe the findings as 'worrying' and say the main causes are to be found in the home.
With more mothers going back to work after pregnancy, changing breast feeding patterns and children spending more time in front of the TV and computer screen, the puppy fat affectionately associated with very young children is swiftly becoming a more serious problem. The report, published in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal, is similar to a recent study conducted by the Department of Public Health Sciences, at King's College, London. Looking at overweight and obese children aged between four and 11 in England, again over a ten year period, it discovered that numbers had soared in both sexes, especially girls. Among boys it went up from 5.4 per cent to 9 per cent and in girls from 9.3 per cent to 13.5 per cent. Until the late 1980s, figures for overweight and obese youngsters had barely changed.