New doubt over obesity 'epidemic'

Claims that Britain is in the grip of an obesity epidemic were today dismissed as government exaggerations to support inappropriate policies.

A new health survey has cast doubts over recent alarming public health statistics, such as the claim that one in six children in Britain is dangerously overweight.

The Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC), an independent think tank, has concluded that ministers and some health lobbyists are creating a wildly inaccurate "doomsday scenario" by using an outdated system to calculate obesity.

Last year a Commons select committee on health warned that obesity rates were so bad that half of all children would be obese by 2020, with many set to die before their parents.

Researchers now say that whereas the "national standard" used by the Government to estimate obesity suggests that 15per cent of children are obese, the "international standard" puts the figure at less than seven per cent. The average weight of those aged under 16 had risen by only half a kilo.

Peter Marsh, co-director of the SIRC, said that rather than schemes such as banning junk food advertising during children's TV, the Government should be targeting the middle-aged and elderly.