As covered in our article IOTF of May 2008, obesity has taken on epidemic proportions in European children. According to IOTF report (International Obesity TaskForce) figures, Europeans are starting to wake up to the seriousness of this with regard to health. One in five European children now fall into the obese range, with an annual increase of two percent, according to another IOTF report.
Some European countries now have an even higher rate of obesity than Americans, going as high as 30% in some countries.
Two-thirds of these children will remain obese for their entire lives, and their life expectancy is reduced by several years, since obesity leads to a long list of other serious illnesses, including early-onset heart disease, respiratory disorders and musculoskeletal diseases, according to Swiss government statistics that came out in January 2008.