History rewritten as poor children, not rich, get fat

Bad diet blamed as 70-year study shows the ‘have-nots’ are now more likely to be plump than the ‘haves’

POOR children in Britain are now fatter than wealthy youngsters, a total reversal in the weights of the two social classes over the past 70 years. Traditionally, poverty has been associated with malnutrition and thinness. But a study by University College London (UCL), comparing children today with those born in the Forties, Fifties and Seventies, found a dramatic switch.

In 1957, 11-year-olds from deprived backgrounds were on average 4.4lb lighter than those from the upper classes, with food shortages and gruelling lifestyles taking their toll.

But by 2015, the poorest children were 4.6lb heavier than the richest. BMI (Body Mass Index) was also found to have risen among the most socially deprived teenagers. For children born in 2001, by the age of 15, there was a 1.4kg/sq m difference between the classes, the highest recorded.

The research, published in The Lancet Public Health, highlighted considerable changes to diets and physical activity levels in Britain since the end of the Second World War. Children born after the war were raised on rations until 1954, and had a diet high in vegetables but low in fat and sugar. Since then, the food environment has become increasingly obesogenic.

Dr David Bann, of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at UCL, said: “Our findings illustrate a need for new effective policies to reduce obesity and its socioeconomic inequality in children in the UK. Bold action is needed, such as creating further incentives for food manufacturers to reduce sugar and fat content in food and drinks, reduce the advertising of unhealthy foods to children and families, and incentivise the sale of healthier alternatives.”

One in five children are obese by the time they leave primary school and in some areas nearly half of 11-year-olds weigh too much.

Research from Public Health England (PHE) found that overweight and obese children eat an average 500 calories extra a day. PHE wants food manufacturers to cut the number of calories in the most popular foods.

The study included data for more than 35,000 children born in England, Scotland and Wales from four longitudinal birth cohort studies beginning in 1946, 1958, 1970 and 2001.

The research also showed the difference in height between the poorest and richest has narrowed, with fewer disadvantaged children now of short stature. In the 1946 cohort, the average seven-year-old was 1.5in (3.9cm) shorter than the least disadvantaged children, whereas the difference in the 2001 cohort was just 0.5in (1.3cm).