Britons have become the fat people of Europe, warns charity

The British have become the "fat people of Europe" with more than a million children under 16 who are clinically obese, the leaders of a new charity said yesterday.

At least half of all adults are also overweight, after a rapid increase in obesity levels over the past two decades. But the most worrying rise has been among children, who are piling on the pounds because of over-eating and less active lifestyles, according to the founders of Weight Concern.

The charity, launched yesterday, has been set up by psychologists and nutritionists and is the first to campaign for the well-being of overweight people at a national level.

Dr Carolyn Edwards, a clinical psychologist from University College London (UCL), said children who were overweight were suffering some of the greatest physical, social and mental problems.

Research has shown that 96 per cent of overweight adolescent girls are subject to hurtful teasing and derogatory names from fellow school pupils, teachers or other adults.

"Overweight and obese children do face discrimination and stigmatisation and studies show that they are rated the least desirable of friends by other children," Dr Edwards said. "Children are teased not only by their peers but by adults around them, by family members and by teachers at school."

The charity, which aims to promote better advice and treatment for obese people, says that parents are often reluctant to tackle weight problems in their children for fear they will develop eating disorders. But overweight youngsters are more likely to have weight problems as adults and are often lacking in confidence.

By the age of 12, fat children may also display the first signs of heart disease in their arteries, and they are more likely to have asthma.

Obesity also increases the risk of cancer, diabetes and arthritis in adults.

Professor Jane Wardle, a co-founder of the charity who is also a clinical psychologist at UCL, said: "The problem is worse in Britain than it is in almost any other European country. We can describe Britons as the fat people of Europe.

"There are millions and millions of people facing these difficulties. We know obesity costs lives and we know it costs the quality of life in diseases like diabetes and arthritis, which are strongly associated with being overweight.

"Overweight people exist in what can be called a culture of blame, where they are thought to be personally responsible for their problems through laziness and overeating."

* Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of the child developing diabetes and obesity in later life, scientists warned yesterday. Looking at 17,000 British births, researchers discovered that maternal smoking was a "true" risk factor in the debilitating early onset of diabetes in adults. The study also showed that cigarette smoking as a young adult was associated with an increased risk of getting diabetes, the British Medical Journal reported.