- Extra large chocolate bars and mega-sized crisp packets
are to blame for Britain's epidemic of child obesity, experts said today.
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- A leading dietician coined the term "supersizing"
to describe big packets of sweets and junk food which are "aggressively
marketed" at children.
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- A conference of experts is debating the issue in Bristol
amid fears that parents could start outliving their children because of
illnesses linked to obesity, such as heart disease and diabetes.
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- One in 10 children is now classed as overweight and 2.6
per cent are obese. One in five gets more than 20 per cent of their calories
from sugar: twice the recommended amount.
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- Dr Susan Jebb, of the Human Nutrition Research Centre
in Cambridge, said: "An adult may buy a mega-sized packet of crisps,
eat half and save the rest. Children will eat the whole lot in one go.
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- "For a nine- or 10-year-old, an ordinary Mars bar
adds up to about 15 per cent of their recommended daily energy needs. A
king-sized Mars contains about a quarter."
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- She said children increasingly lead couch potato lives
while food portions have got bigger amid "go large" product promotions.
"We need to educate children and parents into not always opting for
the mega packet," she added.
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- © Associated Newspapers Ltd.
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