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Around half a million children in Europe are suffering classic health problems of the middle-aged because they are too fat, according to new estimates.
The levels of obesity among Europe's children have been on the rise over the last 15 years, but experts are now starting to see the health consequences emerge on a large scale.
In Britain, one in five children is overweight or obese. In Spain the figure rises to 30% of children, and in Italy it reaches 36%. According to US government estimates, 30% of American children are overweight or obese.
In a new analysis presented at the start of this year's European Congress on Obesity in Athens, experts reported that high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, damaged blood sugar regulation and other dangerous conditions -- often referred to collectively as the metabolic syndrome -- were increasingly being identified alongside the rising levels of childhood obesity in Europe.
"The figures suggest that children in the EU could soon be measuring up to their counterparts in the US, where the numbers affected by the metabolic syndrome doubled from 910,000 to two million in less than 10 years," said the analysis by the International Obesity Task Force, a network of eminent obesity scientists and policy experts.
The group estimated that between 2,000 and 10,000 European children already had the type of diabetes usually diagnosed in middle age.
As the estimates were unveiled, a statement was delivered to the conference on behalf of EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou.
He outlined plans for a Europewide code of conduct to rein in the marketing of unhealthy food to children and broader policy initiatives across agriculture, education and transport that address the obesity problem.
The European Union would publish a new strategy on diet and exercise before the end of the year and submit the document to public consultation with the food industry, anti-obesity activists and others to shape a final plan by the end of 2006, Mr Kyprianou said.
The move echoes unprecedented steps taken last year by the World Health Organisation, which launched a global strategy on diet and physical activity after health ministers from around the world approved the plan.
StrawberryNET
2008年6月24日
New Key to Obesity
New Key to Obesity
The discovery of the obesity gene in humans half a decade ago offered evidence that chronic weight gain is the consequence of a mismatch between nature and nurture. Simplistic explanations, such as blaming obesity on a drop in fat consumption, ignore scientific reality. In countries like India and China, obesity was virtually unknown until the introduction of a high-fat, Western-style diet.
One well-known reason for this is that dietary fat converts to body fat more effciently than does protein or carbohydrate, but recently scientists have uncovered what appears to be an equally important factor. Some researchers in universities are investigating the possibility that high levels of fat and fructose are mucking up our brain chemistry, and thereby muting the signals that would normally tell us to put down the fork. These signals are produced by peptides, which are regulated by a number of hormones. Under normal conditions these hormones help maintain a stable body weight by adjusting levels of the peptides that control eating. But a diet loaded with fat and fructose hampers the regulation of these hormones. Complicating matters still further is that the brain loses its ability to respond to these hormones as body fat increases -- so the obese are doubly penalized.
Other researchers are finding evidence that constant exposure to fat and sugar can cause some humans to crave them as they do an addictive drug. A Princeton University psychologist recently showed that rats fed a high sugar diet were, when the sugar was removed, thrown into a state of anxiety similar to that seen in withdrawal from morphine or nicotine. Sarah Leibowitz, a neurobiologist, believes that frequent exposure to fatty foods may configure the brain to crave still more fat. She has shown in animal studies that galanin, a brain peptide that simulates eating behavior and decreases energy expenditure, increases when the animal eats a high-fat diet.
There are many factors contributing to the explosion of obesity in the United States, and the world, but the radical changes in the composition of our diet are first among them. While scientific work in this arena is in its infancy, it's already clear that varying the amount of fat and other nutrients in the diet affects brain chemistry by activating certain genes, and this in turn directs our dietary preferences. By submitting ourselves to a steady dose of highly processed, sweet, high-fat foods, we have unwittingly entered into a dangerous experiment, the long term consequences of which are only now beginning to surface.
The discovery of the obesity gene in humans half a decade ago offered evidence that chronic weight gain is the consequence of a mismatch between nature and nurture. Simplistic explanations, such as blaming obesity on a drop in fat consumption, ignore scientific reality. In countries like India and China, obesity was virtually unknown until the introduction of a high-fat, Western-style diet.
One well-known reason for this is that dietary fat converts to body fat more effciently than does protein or carbohydrate, but recently scientists have uncovered what appears to be an equally important factor. Some researchers in universities are investigating the possibility that high levels of fat and fructose are mucking up our brain chemistry, and thereby muting the signals that would normally tell us to put down the fork. These signals are produced by peptides, which are regulated by a number of hormones. Under normal conditions these hormones help maintain a stable body weight by adjusting levels of the peptides that control eating. But a diet loaded with fat and fructose hampers the regulation of these hormones. Complicating matters still further is that the brain loses its ability to respond to these hormones as body fat increases -- so the obese are doubly penalized.
Other researchers are finding evidence that constant exposure to fat and sugar can cause some humans to crave them as they do an addictive drug. A Princeton University psychologist recently showed that rats fed a high sugar diet were, when the sugar was removed, thrown into a state of anxiety similar to that seen in withdrawal from morphine or nicotine. Sarah Leibowitz, a neurobiologist, believes that frequent exposure to fatty foods may configure the brain to crave still more fat. She has shown in animal studies that galanin, a brain peptide that simulates eating behavior and decreases energy expenditure, increases when the animal eats a high-fat diet.
There are many factors contributing to the explosion of obesity in the United States, and the world, but the radical changes in the composition of our diet are first among them. While scientific work in this arena is in its infancy, it's already clear that varying the amount of fat and other nutrients in the diet affects brain chemistry by activating certain genes, and this in turn directs our dietary preferences. By submitting ourselves to a steady dose of highly processed, sweet, high-fat foods, we have unwittingly entered into a dangerous experiment, the long term consequences of which are only now beginning to surface.
Weight Epidemic
Weight Epidemic
Citing an epidemic of obesity, Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher today called on communities and schools to help children and adults lose weight and stay healthy.
Satcher identified schools as central to efforts to prevent and decrease excess weight problems, and recommended they improve physical education programs and provide healthy food alternatives. Communities also must offer safe places to exercise, he urged.
Satcher identified schools as central to efforts to prevent and decrease excess weight problems, and recommended they improve physical education programs and provide healthy food alternatives. Communities also must offer safe places to exercise, he urged.
"Many people believe that dealing with overweight and obesity is a personal responsibility," Satcher states. "To some degree they are right, but it is also a community responsibility."
An estimated 300,000 deaths may be attributed to obesity in the United States each year, and more than 60 percent of adults in 1999 could be classified as overweight or obese, according to the new report from the surgeon general.
An estimated 300,000 deaths may be attributed to obesity in the United States each year, and more than 60 percent of adults in 1999 could be classified as overweight or obese, according to the new report from the surgeon general.
But the problem is not just a concern for adults. The prevalence of obesity for adolescents has nearly tripled in the past two decades, making early intervention all the more critical.
According to the report, in 1999, 13 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 11 and 14 percent of those aged 12 to 19 were overweight.
According to the report, in 1999, 13 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 11 and 14 percent of those aged 12 to 19 were overweight.
And the younger a person begins to carry excess weight, the greater the potential impact on their future quality of life. Weight gain and obesity are major contributors to poor health, increasing the risk of a number of medical conditions including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, and even certain cancers.
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