90% of children face being obese by 2050 - it's time to act

Feb 26 2009

Figures predict 9 in 10 of today’s children risk being overweight or obese by 2050. Today we start a series of articles to help you get behind a new Government initiative to let families lead healthier lives.

Like any organisation at the heart of its community, this website wants the best for the people it serves.

And that is why we are giving our unstinting and enthusiastic support to Change 4 Life,the government campaign to get us all to live healthier lives

Like any organisation at the heart of its community, this website wants the best for the people it serves.

And that is why we are giving our unstinting and enthusiastic support to Change 4 Life,the government campaign to get us all to live healthier lives.

The advice is simple. Eat better. Exercise more.

And the need for changing our lifestyles is just as easy to grasp, with rising levels of obesity and the terrible diseases associated with an unhealthy diet and a lack of activity.

That is true of every age group – but it is especially worrying when such a deadly tidal wave engulfs our young people.

Consider this. Official statistics predict that nine out of ten of today’s children could grow up with dangerous amounts of fat in their bodies.

That will leave them at risk from life-threatening conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

In short, it will mean that some of the fresh-faced kids we see around us today will live lives that are cut unnecessarily short.

That is inexcusable in 21st century Britain.

Yet the solution is not complicated. Small changes to the way we live can make a huge difference.

Over the next month these pages will carry advice on how our diets can be changed to help increase our chance of living long and healthy lives.

We will also be carrying tips on how we can get the exercise we need – not through

punishing keep-fit regimes, but by adopting a fun, sensible approach to life.

There will be stories about ordinary people who have already Changed 4 Life.

We would like to hear from readers, too, who have turned round their lives and those of their children so their success can be celebrated on these pages.

The aim is to mount a campaign to inspire us all – and particularly to our children.

Make no mistake. Between us we can make a difference. We can ensure that people across the city live longer lives.

That is why we embrace this initiative. We would be failing our readers were to do anything else.

Waste no time. Change 4 Life.

Five ways to get the children in shape? > >

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