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UCL in the News: One in four children are overweight by age three

11 June 2007

Almost one in four children are overweight or obese by the age of three, a UK-wide survey reveals today.

 

The study, the biggest of its kind, measured the height and weight of 14,000 children aged three. Preliminary results reveal that 18% were overweight and a further 5% obese. …

Carol Dezateux, Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology at the UCL Institute of Child Health, who led the team carrying out the analyses, said the findings would help to understand the origins of childhood obesity.

"That almost one quarter of three-year-olds living in the UK are obese or overweight is of great public health concern," she said.

"These figures augment data from other recent smaller or more local UK surveys by providing unique information on the geographic and ethnic variation in childhood overweight and obesity. These findings will assist government in tackling childhood obesity by helping to inform public health policy."

Sara Gaines, 'The Guardian'