UK: Children aged two treated for obesity

Children as young as two are being treated for obesity, an British National Health Service dietician said today.

An increasingly sedentary lifestyle and parents who pander to the sweet tooth of their offspring are being blamed for the rise in overweight toddlers.

Clare Baber, a dietician at Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust, told the Western Mail newspaper she sees a couple of obese two-year-olds referred to her clinic every year.

She said the average weight for a two-year-old child is 12kg or 1st 12lb but some of the toddlers she sees weigh about 16kg, or 2st 9lb.

“This means that a quarter of their body weight is overweight, which is a lot,” she told the newspaper.

She added: “If a parent gives their child a free range of food choice they will then choose their favourite foods.

“At the age of two, children develop their tastes for food variety, but if they are always choosing their favourite foods and don’t get exposed to other choices they will end up perhaps eating only a limited number of foods.”

Ms Baber said the risk of becoming an overweight child or adult is then increased if a toddler is only fed a limited number of foods.