The obesity time bomb

Alarming research reveals the number of patients under 18 being treated for obesity has increased by more than 30 per cent in the past five years. the sharpest increase is among boys, where hospital stays almost doubled to nearly 400 in 2007-8.

There is also a record number of hospital admissions for life-threatening weight-related diabetes among children.

Breathing difficulties, liver and heart disease and joint problems are among the conditions suffered by overweight youngsters.

Those with diabetes are often admitted to hospital with dangerously uncontrollable glucose levels.

The figures, compiled by the Liberal Democrats from answers to parliamentary questions, have alarmed experts.

Professor David McCarthy, senior lecturer in human nutrition at London Metropolitan University, said: “It is shocking that admissions to treat obesity complications like this are rising, particularly among young people.

“The time bomb is here and the problem is going to get worse. We are less active than ever and calories from fat and sugar are cheap, so paradoxically, lower income groups are the most obese.”

Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, a London-based think-tank, said: “This is an astonishing development of the past five to 10 years. When I was a student we saw this kind of diabetes only in 60- to 70-year-olds. It’s a nightmare.

“When will we start tackling the underlying issue of cheap junk food and decades of inappropriate subsidies of fat, oils and meat at the expense of fruit and vegetables? The future health costs will become unsustainable, however efficient our health system.” Last year more than 800 under-18s were admitted to hospital because of their weight, a rise of 34 per cent in five years. The number of boys rose from 200 to nearly 400 over the past five years.

Hospital admissions for children with problems caused by weight-related diabetes also doubled. In 1997-98, 113 children were admitted, 25 of whom were under 10. Last year this had risen to 210, including 29 under-10s. The report found admissions to hospital for obesity among the rest of the population had also risen sharply, from 7,000 in 2003-04 to 14,320 in 2007-08.

In five years, the total numbers of people admitted to hospital as a direct result of obesity rose by 190 per cent, with 5,056 admissions in 2007-08.

Among the 18- to 30-year-olds two-thirds of obesity admissions were women. The highest rise in obesity-related hospital admissions was in the East Midlands, with a sevenfold increase, then the North-east and West Midlands with a fourfold rise, followed by London, where admissions have trebled.

The study predicts obesity will cost the National Health Service £45billion by 2050 and Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman who compiled the report, said: “This could bankrupt the NHS.”

An increasing number of private companies, such as the Carnegie Weight Loss camp in West Yorkshire, have begun to tackle the problem.

Alfie Robinson, aged nine, from Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, joined the camp to overcome a weight problem that left him gasping for breath. He has gone from 6st 8lb to 6st 2lb in four weeks.

Alfie, whose diet was based on pizza, chips, and sausages with sweets and crisps between meals, said: “I got £10 a week pocket money but most of it went on sweets. It was difficult to do any sport because I couldn’t breathe properly.”

Research shows a third of children are overweight or obese by the time they start secondary school. Up to 2.8million children in Britain are classified as obese, with 140,000 severely obese.