Families cannot tackle childhood obesity alone, EU study says

The family environment is not able to overcome childhood obesity without governmental support, a new report has found.
After five years of examining the health factors of more than 16,000 children in eight EU countries, the EU-funded I.Family study, which was published today (9 February), concluded that “government intervention is vital” in fighting obesity.
A key finding of the study was that the rates of overweight and obese children vary widely between European regions, from around 40% of children aged two to ten years old in southern Italy to less than 10% in Belgium. Socioeconomic status had a major effect on these rates.
“Our findings clearly show that children from disadvantaged families are more often overweight and obese than those from more advantaged groups, so it’s vital that extra efforts are made to target those worst off with bold policies designed to offer them the support they need,” I.Family study coordinator Dr Wolfgang Ahrens emphasised.
   Over the course of the study, researchers also found that almost twice as many children from medium or low socioeconomic status became overweight or obese over a period of six years compared with families of higher socioeconomic status.
Obesity is directly connected to a host of non-communicable diseases, including more than 50% of type-2 diabetes cases and 60% of cardiovascular diseases. Children who are obese are more likely to develop diseases like these later in life and can even have medical complications when they are young.