Press cutting: Our children have never been fatter

"The correlation between childhood weight and weight in adulthood seems to be becoming stronger earlier and earlier in a child's life," says Professor Jane Wardle [UCL Epidemiology & Public Health], director of the Cancer Research UK health behaviour unit at UCL, who led a study into childhood obesity. …

There is a common perception that rising childhood obesity is something to do with a British underclass putting fizzy drinks in the baby bottle or using burgers as a staple food. This is a national delusion, says Wardle. "While the most deprived socio-economic groups do have higher levels of overweight and obesity," she says, "there has been a huge rise in childhood obesity across all social groups. Go to any private girls' school and you'll find far more girls with larger waistlines than ever before." …

Wardle works with families to tackle children's weight problems. "It is definitely not the parent's fault alone," she says. "We are programmed by evolution to maximise food consumption and minimise action." And in this slothful, super-sized age, the problem of "stone-age genes in the digital era" has become really serious.

"There is also a proven genetic component to weight," says Wardle. Studies of twins and of adopted children show that we pass down our "responsiveness to food cues" and "sensitivity to internal cues of fullness" along with our blue eyes or curly hair. In other words, some children are born to eat. But, according to Wardle, "this does not have to be deterministic. Anyone can maintain a healthy weight if they do the right thing." …

Flab-fighting starts at birth: by breastfeeding. According to Professor Tim Cole [UCL Institute of Child Health], a child growth specialist, "Breast-fed babies are less likely to be fat later in life than bottle-fed babies." While there is, he says "a strong socio-economic component" to this (better educated mothers in the UK are more likely to breastfeed), even when adjusted for social class there is a difference. This could be because a breastfed baby is more likely to learn how to eat according to appetite: "Breastfed babies control the flow of milk themselves," says Cole, "while bottle-fed ones take what they are given."…

Parents tend to give up the first time a baby rejects a new taste or texture, not realising that it can take 10-14 tastes before a food will be accepted. "Studies show that the earlier lots of tastes are introduced, the more willing a child is to eat a wide variety later on," says Wardle. …

Keep trying with healthy foods even if they are rejected at first. Wardle did a trial with children aged three and up who were offered tiny bits of cucumber or red pepper. Initially, there was outraged disgust but after two to 10 "tasting sessions", the preschoolers were actually jostling for them. …

"You can't change the world, but you should see your home as a 'micro-environment' and clean it up," says Wardle. "Whether or not your child is chubby, you should keep unhealthy triggers such as crisps, biscuits or chocolate well out of their way. Changing family habits is key - for instance, make it a rule never to eat in front of the TV as this can become a habit, triggering the desire to snack every time your child sits down in front of the telly." …

Seventy per cent of our children now have a TV in their bedroom, yet one recent study from the UCL Institute of Child Health found that for five-year-old children, every hour of TV watched at weekends increased their risk of obesity by 7%. …

"If your child is overweight or obese over the age of 11," says Wardle, "the evidence is that they will not spontaneously slim down." You are going to have to tackle the problem. Adolescents tend to be very resistant to parental interference, or any suggestion that they are not being "accepted" and, says Wardle, "they are extraordinarily self-conscious." Getting professional help is therefore crucial. …

Many parents - particularly of girls - avoid the topic of eating or weight for fear of provoking a "complex" or eating disorder. "There is not a shred of evidence that families that encourage healthy eating have an increased risk of eating disorders," says Wardle. In fact, she says, "we are guarding against an imaginary fear" if we avoid discussing weight and eating at any age. … In the Traffic Light programme - a diet and exercise programme to tackle childhood obesity, run by Great Ormond Street and the UCL Institute of Child Health - researchers have looked carefully to see if the children taking part develop a worse body image or become less happy. "The results suggest the opposite," says Wardle. "Facing up to the issues and developing a healthy lifestyle make s children feel significantly better about themselves." …

In the Traffic Light programme … families are taught to classify foods: "green" indicates foods that can be eaten without worrying (such as vegetables); "yellow" indicates healthy foods that should form the bulk of the diet, but not be eaten to excess (such as bread, pasta, rice, lean meat, fish and dairy foods); and "red" indicates occasional rather than everyday foods (such as biscuits, cakes, chips). This approach is deemed so successful that the Food Standards Agency has just launched a Traffic Light food-labelling system, which is already on some food products.

Above all, do not ignore the subject if you have an overweight teen. "It's a farce to pretend that everything is fine," says Wardle. The basic rules for talking are tact and support. "Raise the subject gently and tell them you'll support them in whatever they want to do about it," says Wardle. "Continue to show them that you are responding to them as an attractive and lovable person." And if you are struggling, says Wardle, "It can be helpful to acknowledge, maybe with a bit of humour, that there is a strong genetic component."

Lucy Atkins, 'The Guardian'