The risk of diabetes and high cholesterol in young people in Britain is on the increase as the avera...
The risk of diabetes and high cholesterol in young people in Britain is on the increase as the average waist circumference continues to rise, according to research conducted by the Institute of Child Health in London.
Researchers claim that a large waist circumference is linked to a greater risk of such disorders, especially when it rises more steeply than body mass index (BMI). The report says waist size has increased much more sharply than BMI among 11 to 16-year olds over the last 20 years.
Data from over 4,500 young people was used in the research. In 1997, 28% of boys and 38% of girls were found to be overweight ' this compares with just 9% for both sexes between 1977 and 1987. In the same year, 14% of boys and 17% of girls were found to be obese, compared to only 3% during the two previous decades.
Increases in BMI during the same period were, on the other hand, smaller and similar in both sexes. Authors of the report, David McCarthy, Sandra Ellis and Tim Cole, concluded that the differences in excess weight between girls and boys could be down to girls taking less exercise. The report concluded: 'The increase in waist circumference was appreciably larger in females than in males, for reasons that are unclear. Energy intake has decreased to a similar extent in the sexes. It may be that levels of physical activity have decreased faster in females than in males, and central fatness may be related more to physical activity than to energy intake.'
