Childhood obesity

[Unopenedpackofmenssocks]

New report lists 9 areas of England where the majority of children will be overweight or obese by 2035.

It’s got me thinking about what causes childhood obesity. I have an 8 year-old who doesn’t like football, can’t ride a bike, never took to his scooter. spends a lot of time on a screen at home. Has does run about at school playtime and PE lessons and he likes climbing so goes to a class once a week for an hour.

He has an incredibly sweet tooth. I don’t allow unlimited desserts/sweets but I know for a fact we are much more liberal than many of his friends’ parents. The only things we are strict on are no fizzy drinks, Haribo type sweets maybe once a week, and no sugary cereal.

But he has something chocolate after every dinner and also when he gets in from school. Breakfast is a toasted fruit tea cake dripping in butter. He steals honey and Nutella from the cupboard when he thinks we aren’t looking.

We drive to school. We don’t go on family walks and our favourite joint family activity is watching Saturday night TV together. Our garden only has a small patch of lawn 2mx 4m and he has no siblings so doesn’t naturally run about playing at home.

He eats limited vegetables and his favourite foods are nuggets and pizza. He eats pasta with tomato sauce and cheese every single day at school lunch, won’t touch anything else. He has never eaten large portions though. We have no issue with McDonalds/fast food in general but he’s not a huge fan, maybe eat it once a month. Subway usually.

He is very slim and his teeth have no decay (was last at dentist 2 weeks ago).

My husband and I are both overweight BMI, on the brink of obese, but we were both naturally slim as kids too. I imagine it will catch up with our son when he is an adult, or maybe even sooner. (We all need to make changes and will work on that).

What we most definitely are is financially and socially privileged.

My question is this - these areas where obesity is running rampant are low-income and socially deprived. So what are the other factors caused by social/economic deprivation that mean these kids are obese but mine is not? Or are we literally just a very lucky exception?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/23/majority-children-overweight-obese-nine-areas-england-by-2035-study?CMP=ShareiOSAppOther

Neither of us was overweight as a child.

And who feeds these obese children? It all comes down to the parents. A child who is 8 or younger doesn’t really have the skills to make a dinner for themselves but an adult does. Be interesting to know what weight class these parents of obese children are.

Different ethnicities will have genetics that predispose them to physical and metabolic attributes - muscle mass, glucose intolerance, salt retention. Just look at the athletics, for example - the 100m sprint versus the long distance runners. Their muscle types, body builds - black American/Caribbeans versus black East Africans and Europeans.

Those from the Asian subcontinent have to have a BMI range that is different (stricter) than Caucasians due to their risk for type 2 diabetes. They have a tendency to put weight around the abdomen (bad!) but their diets are very very low UPF, certainly for the generation who emigrated here who cook fresh food daily.

However, your OP wasn’t about these people in particular but why those children growing up in lower socioeconomic homes/communities are more likely to obese. Same reason that their educational outcomes are likely to less than their counterparts at a higher socioeconomic level.
Money and education doesn’t help you process UPFs in a better way. Your son eats less UPF than children from poorer backgrounds, has fruit and veg at private school and has structured PE lessons at private school so is not going to become obese as quickly.

Neither is your son - and that’s the point PPs are making based on the information you have given.

It doesn’t say anything in the articles about race or ethnicity. So by these communities you mean poor people?

Slim doesn’t equal healthy.

Your post made me shutter. Why would you post all that and not be highly concerned for his health and future. I can't see beyond that to work out what the point of your post is.

I think the point of the post is to say kids from middle class or rich families are not obese despite being fed a shit diet and doing no exercise. I don’t really get the ops point. Surely someone who is educated should know better than to feed their kid a diet of chicken nuggets and pizza, even if it is the posh brand. And they say people in poverty aren’t educated around food 😂

This and the fact that OP goes on to say that her son doesn’t eat pizza and nuggets everyday and he only has one biscuit after school and he does have fruit, veg and wholemeal bread at his private school and he does have structured PE lessons at school.

But it still remains unclear why he is not obese when compared with children who east pizza and nuggets everyday, who have a whole packet of biscuits, do not have much fruit or veg and barely do any PE or exercise due to the funding difficulties at their state school.

I am not sure that anyone has presented any evidence that low income children do eat pizza and nuggets every day. I mean, I am assuming that is a possibility, but is it fact or conjecture?

Maybe have a read of all my posts. It’s a question about society and culture.

What point is that?

Exactly.

Not literally pizza and nuggets everyday but will be having significantly more ready meals/UPF and very little fruit and veg. It’s not conjecture, it’s the interplay of the lack of time, money, information and access to healthy foods that result in this. Just look at the food shops you see in more deprived areas versus those in wealthier communities.

Of course, people in lower socioeconomic groups have increased child obesity rates, due to a lack of education and lack of funds. They were probably raised on the same food stuffs and know no different.

As an educated, middle class mother, you obviously don’t have that excuse. So, why do you allow your young son to have a sedentary lifestyle and eat a diet which is so unhealthy? Your assertion that it’s not too bad, that he eats whole meal foods, that he’s still slim at 8 years old, are all irrelevant. You must know that if he continues in the same manner, he’ll be overweight by the time he reaches his 20s. If you genuinely think his diet isn’t too bad, I’d suggest you track everything he eats for a week in MyFitnessPal and see what it tells you,

You’re in the privileged position of having the intelligence to teach your son about a healthy lifestyle yet you choose not to. I find that astounding.

From my observations it is what children eat / are fed in terms of junk food. Processed good is addictive and you really have to be very firm with kids in terms of saying no. All the children I know that are overweight tend to snack a lot - it all adds up in terms of calories

I can’t tell if you are being deliberately obtuse or just struggling to understand your own thread

🤣🤣🤣 a lot of drip feeding and then changing their mind on what they mean. Which is it?

But you said you’re overweight yourself “on the brink of obesity” so if you can’t manage your own diet and lifestyle how can you expect to feed a child a healthy diet?

We live in a high obesity area, and sadly in my DD's y6 class, at least 1/3 are obese already. I find it really upsetting for them.

Apparently they don't join in with PE, and they are sedentary during playtime. My daughter's school has an amazing play ethos, which has transformed playtime. She now clearly does so much she'll come home sweaty! But her larger peers opt out already.

My DD is a healthy weight. Her diet is generally good and balanced, whilst she avoids veg, she loves salads, beans and fruit. She also has treats, and given the chance, would scoff 4 biscuits in a go.

What I've noticed with her overweight peers is a) the quantity of food. My DD will have 1 packet of crisps, her larger friends will have 2 or 3, b) the lack of balance. DD eats some bread and jam alongside cucumber, grapes etc. Her overweight friends will have just the unhealthy bits, c) ultra processed food. My DD has cereal, cheap bread and the odd snack that's ultra processed. Almost everything else isn't. Her friends will have lunch boxes with nothing but ultra processed food.

I had a friend shocked by our fridge when she came over. Honestly, it's a regular fridge with regular food, but hers is entirely ready meals and ultra processed crap. Her and the kids are obese.

We're also super lucky to have a large garden. The kids go out in it regularly, hang upside on the trapeze bar, throw balls around etc. It must be so much harder if you don't have that.

People in lower socioeconomic groups are usual in single parent households, so again less money coming in and they don’t have the help of another parent.

But this is probably the best post on this thread 👏🏼

Can I ask what type of area do you live in, if you mind sharing?

I think you have just been lucky so far- unfortunately he is likely to be overweight as he gets older if you don't set new habits soon.

I've lived in very middle class areas and slightly more deprived areas and there definitely is a difference in the snacks offered to chodren after school. More fruit, cucumber sticks and oat cakes offered as after school snack in affluent areas vs jammy dodgers and crisps. Also noticed mote families out running and going on long walks together in more affluent areas.

This is on average, obviously there are families like yours, on both sides, who buck the trend.

Health psychologists here.
I suppose there is an overall/definitive answer, for children or adults.
A mix of how much kalories in relation to exercise. But recent research are pointing more and more to Ultra processed food consumption and the link with many many health struggles including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, depression, and so forth.
So the quality of food. It is different to eat 1/2 avocado or a McDonald burger. They actually have the same calories, but I think everyone can tell the difference in terms of health benefits.
One thing to also keep in mind, is that Obesity is not always synonymous of unhealthy. Or better, being slim is not always synonymous of being healthy.
You can be slim and have steatotic liver, or high cholesterol due to the quality of food. And you can be obese but not being diabetic or have high cholesterol.
for example, real story. One lady I know is very skinny, always was, in her 60s. Had high cholesterol, high blood pressure. Eats not that much but it’s always ready meals and all the sort of ultra processed.
another lady, a few years younger, obese for most of her life. Probably eating too much, but seuper healthy. Never touching anything ready, buying fresh, cooking from scratch. Sure she has joint pain and difficulty in walking. But perfect cholesterol, heart works well, no high blood pressure.
Why? I think is the quality of food. No food has to be banned, but people with more money are able to choose healthier or higher quality products and don’t need to rely on cheaper (for a reason) foods, high in kcal and oils and preservatives and so on

What an awful, judgement thread, from someone “on the brink of obesity” (I note you reserve the word “fat” for working class people).

As others have already clearly explained to you - no, there’s no magic wand that makes people on lower incomes fat. Your child is lucky so far and will no doubt catch up with you soon. Also, diet and exercise are continuums and yes - you could literally feed him more 💩 and encourage him to be more sedentary I suppose. He could also be less lucky and have a lower metabolism. Not sure you exactly deserve a medal though.