Britain’s obesity epidemic has spread to some of the youngest members of the nation, after figures revealed that 1,400 new-born babies have been classified as significantly overweight in the last four years.
The shocking statistics, obtained by the Sunday Mirror under a freedom of information request, also revealed that almost 110, 000 under 15s were admitted to hospital for obesity-related issues in the same period.
In the four years since 2011, 1,403 babies tipped the scales with a birth weight of more than 9lbs 15ozs, and have been classed by doctors as ‘macrosomic’, or exceptionally heavy.
The freedom of information request, which 110 of 153 NHS trusts responded to, discovered that a whopping 372 macrosomic babies were born at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, while 280 overweight tots were delivered at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals Trust.
Although genetics can cause a baby to be born macrosomic, other factors causing overweight babies include mothers suffering from obesity and diabetes.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said that overweight mothers were responsible for a ‘vicious circle’ of obesity.
‘These figures are horrendous and I am not surprised but I am hugely saddened.’, she told the Mirror.
It’s a vicious circle because the fat mother is going to produce a fat child who is going to grow up into a fat adult who is going to produce their own fat child. It just goes round and round and round’.
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