Obesity in childhood to lead to increased need for private medical cover?

Those who carry excess weight in childhood may benefit more from private medical cover after new evidence suggested that overweight children could be developing signs of heart disease from a young age.

According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, children who are overweight are already showing signs of future heart disease when they hit 15 or 16 years old.

Researchers led by a University of Bristol team looked at ore than 5,000 children, investigating blood pressure, glucose and insulin levels, and cholesterol.

When the study began, 19 per cent of the children, aged between nine and 12 at the time, were overweight and another five per cent were obese.

They found that if the children were still overweight at15 or 16 years old, they were more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high insulin levels, all of which are risk factors for heart disease.

However, it was also discovered that the risk of such health problems were significantly reduced if the children lost weight before they reached adolescence.

The latest Health Survey for England data shows that nearly a quarter of adults, and over one in ten children aged between two and ten, are obese.

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