Consumer Health News
No such thing as 'puppy fat'
May 22, 2006, 15:19 GMT
Sydney - Parents who fondly believe their chubby offspring will shed those extra kilogrammes when school starts are just kidding themselves, Sydney University's Louise Baur told a Brisbane conference on obesity.
'Puppy fat is a myth,' Professor Baur said. 'The child will not necessarily grow out of it - in fact they're highly likely not to.'
One in five children is overweight on entering the Australian school system. By the time they reach high school, a third of children are overweight - a doubling of the rate in 1985.
Australian children are piling on the pounds even faster than those in the United States. Only in New Zealand, Canada and former East Germany is childhood obesity growing at a more alarming rate.
At the other end of life, the growing girth rate is changing demography.
A Queensland University report presented at the conference showed that 10,500 Australians would die this year because of weight-related conditions like heart disease and diabetes. More than a quarter of a million will have their lives foreshortened because they are fat.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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