A study published in The European Journal of Public Health has found that childhood obesity is three times more likely in poorer families than in richer homes.
The British researchers analysed previous figures obtained from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a nationally representative study of children born into 19,244 families from 2000 to 2002.
The researchers found that at the age of five, poor children were twice as likely to be overweight compared to their well-off counterparts. About 6.6 percent of children from poorest families were obese, while about 3.5 percent of children from richest families were obese.
At the age of 11, nearly 7.9 percent of the poorest children were obese, while only 2.9 percent of richest children were the same.
“Multiple family health behaviours and environmental risk factors were relevant when attempting to explain income inequalities in overweight and obesity amongst children,” the authors reported. “The results suggest that both markers of physical activity and diet at ages 5 and 11 were particularly relevant in attenuating inequalities throughout childhood.”
Lead author professor Yvonne Kelly said that children who become obese face negative social and economic outcomes. The causes behind childhood obesity may lie in the economic and psychological aspects, she said. This is why the issue needs to be directly addressed.
A 2014 American study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also found that while obesity has begun to decline among more well-off children, it has continued to rise among their less privileged counterparts.
S.O.Z