Ireland has one of the highest proportions of overweight teenagers, according to a study comparing adolescents in 15 countries, Danish researchers said yesterday.
Children in Greece, Ireland and Portugal are gaining on their US counterparts, said the study of nearly 30,000 youths aged 13 and 15 surveyed between 1997 and 1998.
After the US, Greece had the next highest proportion of overweight 13-year-old boys, at 8 per cent, followed by Ireland at 7 per cent. Portugal had the next highest proportion of overweight 13-year-old girls at 8 per cent, followed by Ireland at 6 per cent.
Teenagers were relatively svelte in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden.
Lithuania had the lowest proportion of overweight teens, the study said. Other countries in the study were Austria, Finland, Israel and Slovakia.
Among 15-year-old Americans, 15 per cent of girls and 14 per cent of boys were overweight. In Lithuania, only 2 per cent of girls and less than 1 per cent of boys that age were overweight. Among those aged 13 in the US, the overweight figures were 12 per cent for boys and 10 per cent for girls.
Among boys aged 15, Greece came in second to the US at 10 per cent followed by Israel at 6 per cent. For non-US 15-year-old girls, Portugal had the next highest proportion at 6 per cent, followed by Denmark. "US adolescents report(ed) a higher prevalence of overweight than any of the European countries or regions or Israel," said study author Inge Lissau of Denmark's National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen.
The report was published by the Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Obesity has been declared a global health threat by the World Health Organisation, as it can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other ailments. Between half and 80 per cent of obese teenagers become obese adults, the study said.
The measurements in the study were based on body mass index - a figure calculated on weight and height.
The study did not explore the reason for the differences by country, but said the findings generally agree with previous research linking diet and sedentary lifestyles to obesity.
A report on adolescent health by the British Medical Association published last month said the next generation would be the most obese in the history of mankind. Lack of exercise and poor diet is leading to many more teenagers becoming overweight or obese, the report said.
The BMA called for services that specifically target adolescents, which it said were stuck in a "no man's land" between child and adult health services. - (Reuters)