Fat Chance

Feb 28, 10:30 AM

Current Headlines: By Lindsay Jennings

As a grossly overweight eightyear-old narrowly misses being taken into care, Lindsay Jennings looks at Britain's rising obesity epidemicHE settles back into the sofa, shuffling his tracksuit-clad bottom into position.Within seconds, his mum flies out of the kitchen, balancing Connor McCreaddie's meal in one hand and a cushion in the other. The cushion is plonked on his lap. The dinner comes next. It is allegedly a gammon steak, but it is so overcooked it looks like it could be used as a discus in the Beijing Olympics. Connor tucks in with gusto, stabbing at the chips with his knife and fork, which he holds in the wrong hands.It is this heartbreaking image which has filled our television screens for the past two days. Connor is only eight years old, yet already he weighs three times as much as a child his age should. At his heaviest he weighed 15 1/2 stones. He has broken four beds and so sleeps on a mattress, and he cannot make the five-minute walk to school without running out of breath and vomiting.His mum, who is unemployed and suffers from depression, was yesterday told her son could continue to live with her, after North Tyneside social services threatened to take him into care.But the sad, sad story has sparked a debate about the efforts being made to tackle Britain's childhood obesity epidemic - and the role parents play in keeping their children healthy.Today, one in four children is obese. Childhood obesity levels doubled in the ten years from 1995 to 2004 and a report by the Health and Social Care Information Centre warned of increased levels of diabetes, cancer and heart diseases if obesity rose further.According to Dr Becki Lang, from the Association for the Study of Obesity, theories abound as to the reason Britain is Europe's fattest country, but working long hours and living more sedate lifestyles compared with our ancestors, are reasons enough to see the pounds pile on."Their role models are their parents and carers, so if they're relying on convenience foods and they're not as active as they could be then those messages are being passed on to the children, " says Dr Lang. "Other reasons could be that PE isn't as prevalent on the school timetable as it once was, school playing fields are being sold off and transport has changed, so we're more used to going everywhere by car."Children today are exposed to so many more food products than they were in the past. Many kids at the ages of three and four know what McDonalds is, and these kind of options are around for them at that age."It is an issue which worries the Government because it costs it billions of pounds. The last figures, in 2004, revealed that Britain's obesity problem - both children and adults - was costing the NHS 31/2bn a year.As a result of that, and possibly the Jamie Oliver effect - the celebrity chef who went on a personal crusade to give children healthy school meals - the Government does appear to be putting more money into educating youngsters, particularly at primary school level. But is it really making any difference to their waistlines?A report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee published in January, criticised the Government for being too slow to react to rising levels of childhood obesity. It said it had failed to engage parents in tackling the causes of weight problems."Some things, like the limitations on advertising junk food, have just taken too long to happen, " says Dr Lang. "There is good work being done in primary schools and there are six specialist childhood obesity clinics in the country - but they are few and far between."Governments think in four-year cycles and this is a long-term problem and it should be a key health priority, no matter who's in charge."Helen Moore, a researcher with the Institute of Health Science and Social Care Research at the University of Teesside, says the Government needs to ensure it works with other partners, not in isolation."It's very difficult to expect just one person to make a difference, " she says. "It really needs to be addressed across the board at all levels - Government action with local health work to encourage people to eat healthier."But parents should also be taking responsibility for their children and what they give them to eat."As regards Connor, there are many people who are laying the blame for his weight gain at his mother Nicola McKeown's feet. But she has accused the doctors of failing to step in and offer help."I've only had reports from the school nurse now and then, " she told reporters. "Every time she said something was a problem we took him to his GP and they assessed and weighed him, took his height and everything, and just basically said go away and watch what he eats. But that's what I've been doing constantly."Since Christmas, Connor, who is 5ft and tall for his age, has been following a healthy eating plan and exercising and has lost a stone and a half in weight.Featured on the Tonight with Trevor McDonald show before his weight loss, the mum told programme makers: "It is just the fact that he has totally demented me, wanting fed constantly. He has double, treble what a seven-year-old would have, but if I didn't give him enough at teatime then he would just go on at us all night for snacks and stuff.All that I would like to say is try coping with a hungry child 24-7 and constantly hassling and nagging you."Sometimes I buy him exotic fruit in the hope that he will like it, but as soon as he tastes it he doesn't want it."Mum-of-three Elizabeth Guy, who has developed a range of additive free children's meals which she sells through her company, Wensleydale Foods, says she understands what it is like to have a fussy eater in the family. But says it's up to parents to keep trying them with foods."I remember holding one of our taster sessions and a child said 'can I try some of that?' and the mum replied 'oh no darling, you don't like broccoli', " says Ms Guy, of Askrigg, North Yorkshire."Even if a child has rejected something when they're 18 months old, you still have to keep trying them with it. I think children are being well educated at school, but if they come home to someone who only knows how to prepare cheap sausages and chips with no nutritional value then they're going to eat it."But, she says, the blame cannot be laid purely with the parents."People can be very well educated and they can still have real problems getting their children to eat healthily and it's hard when the temptation is everywhere. It's particularly hard to control a child with a big appetite. There has to be ways of overcoming that problem as a nation and I do believe it's through education."Although Connor appears to have finally received the help he needs, he may find he has more problems piled on his albeit now healthy plate. While putting him in the spotlight has illustrated just how pressing Britain's obesity epidemic has become, he may find himself tagged with the 'fat' label for the rest of his life."He shouldn't be in the middle of a media circus, " says Elizabeth Guy. "At the end of the day he's only eight years old. He's not the only obese child in the country and he now has the burden of everybody getting at him to cope with."

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