Obesity warning for children hooked on ultra processed food

BritisH children are getting 60 per cent of their calories from unhealthy ultra-processed foods, a damning study has revealed.

Cheap and readily available UPFs – for example frozen pizzas, breakfast cereals, industrially produced breads and some ready meals – are fuelling childhood obesity, according to the researchers.

they now account for an average of 40 per cent of children’s diets when weighed in grams. and an astonishing one in five children get almost 80 per cent of their calories from UPFs.

the study – containing new and important data for child health experts – found children with the highest proportion of processed foods in their diets were at the greatest risk of obesity and damaging their long-term health.

scientists believe UPFs are unhealthy because they leave us feeling less full and therefore we are more likely to overeat. it is also thought additives that alter taste, colour or shelf life could interfere with hormones involved in appetite and blood sugar control.

researchers at imperial College London looked at the health records of 9,000 children in the Bristol area, tracking them between the ages of seven and 24.

Food and drink diaries were kept at the ages of seven, ten and 13 for three days, while measurements including body mass index (BMi), weight, waist circumference and measurements of body fat, were tracked for 17 years. Children were categorised into five groups based on their consumption of UPFs.

at one end of the spectrum, UPFs accounted for 23.2 per cent of total diet in grams, and the figure rose to 67.8 per cent at the other.

Major sources of UPFs included fruit-based or fizzy drinks, ready meals, and massproduced bread and cakes, according to the findings published in the JaMa Pediatrics journal. Diets in the lowest consumption group included more products like plain yoghurt, water and fruit.

the analysis revealed that on average children in the higher consumption groups saw a more rapid progression of BMi, weight, waist circumference and body fat into adolescence and early adulthood.

By the age of 24, those in the highest UPF group had on average a higher BMi, by 1.2kg/m squared, body fat by 1.5 per cent, weight 3.7kg and waist circumference 3.1cm.

Christopher Millett, professor of public health at imperial College London, said: ‘through a lack of regulation and enabling the low cost and ready availability of these foods, we are damaging our children’s long-term health.’

the researchers want more radical public health intervention, such as a ban on marketing aimed at children and higher taxes that push people towards fresh foods.

Further studies were now needed to determine the underlying mechanisms linking UPF consumption to worse health outcomes, they added.

‘Lack of regulation’