A study by researchers at King’s College London has found that childhood obesity among young children has started to level off.
The team analysed trends in data from electronic health records for 370,544 children aged two–15 years, from 37 general practices in England, for the report published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
They found in 1994–2003, the number of overweight and obese children increased by 8.1% a year, while in 2004–2013, the rise each year was just 0.4%. Trends were similar for both sexes.
However, the researchers highlighted that the growth rate differed by age group, with obesity levels stabilising in 2004–2013 in the two–ten age group, but not in the older 11–15 age group, where levels continued to rise over the past decade. Of this latter age group, 37% are now overweight or obese.
