Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, raised the alarming prospect of life expectancy falling for the first time in many hundreds of years unless youngsters began to eat healthier diets.
He said that rather than being "lectured and hectored", parents needed to be told the stark message that a young child who was overweight before their teens could see their lifespan cut short by as much as 11 years.
Diabète, troubles cardiaques...
They also ran the risk of developing debilitating diseases, such as diabetes and heart trouble, with increased numbers likely to experience ill-health for far longer than previous generations.
"Un enfant de moins de seize ans sur trois est couramment considéré comme obèse."
Around one in three children under the age of 16 is
currently considered overweight or obese.
"Il existe un très réel danger que les enfants d'aujourd'hui soient les premiers à avoir une vie
plus courte que leurs parents et à passer la plus grande partie de leurs années dans un état de santé déplorable."
(...) There is a very real danger that today's children will be the first to live shorter lives than their parents and spend more
of their years in poor health.
(...) "If you explain to parents that many children, regardless of their size, have dangerous levels of fat in their arteries or around their organs, and this may reduce their life expectancy by up to 11 years - then people respond.
Mr Johnson (...) said: “Research shows us that vilifying the extremely fat doesn't make people change their behaviour".
“Commentators who point and shout at pictures of the morbidly obese simply fuel the problem."
"Deux tiers des adultes sont estimés être au-dessus de leur poids normal."
Two thirds of adults are estimated to be above their ideal weight, at a cost to the economy of around £7 billion a year in treatment, benefits, loss of earnings and reduced productivity.
By 2050, this is estimated to rise to £50 billion - almost half the NHS's current yearly budget. (...)
Extrait d'un article signé Rosa Prince.
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