Complex factors that explain obesity include lack of access to nutritious food, poverty and children having limited opportunities to be active. M O Pictures/AlamyComplex factors that explain obesity include lack of access to nutritious food, poverty and children having limited opportunities to be active. M O Pictures/AlamyAlmost a quarter of UK GPs are seeing obese children aged four and underExclusive: Almost half of GPs have seen children up to the age of seven who have obesity, research findsAlmost a quarter of GPs are seeing children aged four or under who are obese, according to a survey of UK family doctors. The “alarming” research also found that almost half (49%) of GPs have seen boys and girls up to the age of seven who have obesity, including a handful younger than a year old. However, four out of five family doctors find it difficult to talk to children or their parents about the condition, in case such conversations make them feel upset, angry or ashamed. High blood pressure rates in children nearly doubled in 20 years, global review findsRead moreDr John Holden, the chief medical officer at the medical organisation MDDUS, which ran the survey, said: “These findings are an alarming confirmation of the growing crisis of childhood obesity across the country and the very real difficulties this creates in everyday GP consultations.”The survey asked 540 family doctors about their experience of managing obesity, the explosion in the use of weight loss drugs and what widespread levels of dangerous overweight means for the NHS.
