What is childhood obesity?
Recent studies in the UK have shown a dramatic rise in childhood obesity in the past 20 years. Many parents underestimate the degree to which their child is overweight, and there has never been an international consensus on the definition of obesity. One of the more reliable methods of checking if a child is obese is to look at body mass index (BMI) centiles, which provide a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
Children can become overweight as young as five. It is important to manage and control weight gain at an early stage by establishing healthy eating and exercise patterns. The best time to intervene with an overweight child is around the age of eight or nine.
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