Childhood obesity rates growing in Poland: report

According to the institute, one in five kids were faced with the problem in 2016.

Professor Anna Fijałkowska, from the Mother and Child Institute in Warsaw, said that excessive weight gain can be observed among many children in the first years of their life. She said that the share of overweight kids grows from 10 percent among six-month-old babies to 25 percent among three-year-olds.

She added that Poles “regrettably top Europe’s obesity rankings among eight-year-olds, who comprise a third of all kids in Poland.”

The chief of Warsaw’s Food and Nutrition Institute, Professor Mirosław Jarosz, said that Poland is, however, no different from other countries across the globe, adding that overweight and obesity rates have been growing worldwide since the 1970s.

The World Health Organisation reported in 2017 that the number of kids in the world facing weight issues has skyrocketed over the past 40 years, growing elevenfold from 11 to 120 million.

Jarosz added that overweight and obese children and teenagers will account for 30 percent of the world’s underage population by 2025. Adults with excessive weight will comprise 75 percent of the world’s mature population.

Overweight and obese Poles aged between 35 and 39 already account for more than half of their demographic.

(aba)

Source: PAP