14-year-olds today are four stone heavier than teenagers in 1948

CHILDREN aged 14 are four stone heavier than their 1948 forebears — and leaner recessionary times won’t lead to weight loss, experts have warned.

Dr Ivan Perry, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College Cork and author of a report that studied the teens from 1948 through to 2002, warned the new weight of almost 10 stone will probably stabilise and become the norm.

Dr Perry said the increase in weight was linked to the Celtic Tiger boom but this was unlikely to be reversed in the present climate as dependance on the lower end of the food market was increasing.

According to the study, published in the British Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 14-year-olds boys were just under six stone in 1948, and girls just over it.

But when the report concluded in 2002, Irish teens of the same age were about nine and a half stone.

The report states that over the decades children have grown taller too, with the average 14-year-old boy today 23.1cm taller. Girls have an extra 15.6cm in height compared with the 1948 generation.

But while height increases appear to be more uniform across the decades, in contrast, say the experts, a substantial proportion of the increase in weight is seen between the 1970s and 2002.

From a public health point of view, this rapid increase in weight disproportionate to height is a major concern and linked to the boom years that transformed the country from one of the poorest to one of the most affluent in Europe.

Part of a Europe-wide study on teenage weight trends, the study says the cost of the obesity epidemic has the potential to bankrupt health systems over the coming decades if a cohesive approach is not taken.

Described as “one of the most serious public health challenges” by the World Health Organisation, obesity is at epidemic proportions among adults and children across Ireland and is set to continue growing at a rate of 1% every year. Two in five children are either obese or overweight as part of a growing problem costing €4 billion a year.