Surge in obesity as Irish teens pile on the pounds
Celtic Tiger blamed for rise in fatty foods consumed
Source UCC Department of Epidemiology
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14-year-olds are now 24kgs heavier than their grandparents were at the same age
GROWING prosperity has weighed heavily on Irish teenagers.
Irish 14-year-olds are now close to four stone (24kgs) heavier than their grandparents were at the same age.
And they are in danger of getting even fatter during the recession, a major study published today warns.
The rapid rise in living standards has gone hand in hand with a surge in obesity in Ireland, the study in the British Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reveals.
Public health researchers in University College Cork based their findings on three large scale national surveys of the heights and weights of schoolchildren between the ages of four and fourteen in Ireland carried out in 1948, the 1970s and 2002.
Epidemic
Lead researcher Prof Ivan Perry said while children are now taller the increasing weight has outpaced the rise in height, providing "stark and compelling evidence of the evolution of the obesity epidemic in Irish children in tandem with the rise in economic prosperity".
Far from getting leaner in these tough economic times the problem is likely to get worse as people struggling with tighter household income opt more for calorific staples and cheap take-aways with hidden oils, fats and sugars, he warned last night. He cited the problem of portion sizes as a serious obstacle to improving diet.
Prof Perry and his team from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health said during the 1940s Ireland's economy was stagnant and it did not benefit from the post-war boom enjoyed by other countries.
"In 1948 its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was €0.432bn. But by 2002, its per capita GDP was €130m, the second highest in Europe," the study says.
The study noted that during the 1990s, the Republic of Ireland experienced high annual rates of economic growth, which reversed decades of economic underperformance and transformed the country from one of the poorest to one of the most affluent in Europe. The report said that over the decades children have grown taller. The average 14-year-old boy today is 23.1cm (nearly 10 inches) taller and girls have an extra 15.6cm (6.1 inches) in height compared to the 1948 generation.
Most of the increases in weight have occurred from the 1970s onwards, according to the data.
The authors pointed out that the children in Ireland may have been undernourished in 1948 but their nutritional intake was comparable with the rest of Europe because we were not subject to food rationing after the war.
The authors noted that the effects of economic development on childhood growth have been documented in many countries worldwide.
"Since 1947, overweight and obesity among Danish girls aged six-eight years have increased by factors of eight and 20 respectively," the researchers state.
"Increases were also seen in older children, with the rate of increase accelerating since 1975, accompanied by Denmark's increasing economic prosperity."
The study said the findings from Ireland add to the evidence that we face a global obesity crisis akin to global warming.
"Specifically, they highlight the need to align work addressing the global obesity epidemic with the broader climate change agenda.
"We are converting fossil fuels into relatively cheap calorie-dense food which is driving the obesity epidemic. We need to address our reliance on fossil fuels in food production and food transport and develop public policies to promote walking and cycling."
- Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent
