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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Gregory Health editor

UK children shorter, fatter and sicker amid poor diet and poverty, report finds

Girl eating bowl of multi-coloured cereal
The report says the significant decline in child health is the result of a ‘wholly insufficient’ food policy. Photograph: JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

Children across the UK are getting shorter, fatter and sicker amid an epidemic of poor diets, food insecurity and poverty, according to a report warning that millions are facing a “timebomb” of avoidable health conditions.

The average height of five-year-olds is falling, obesity levels have increased by almost a third and the number of young people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has risen by more than a fifth, the report by the Food Foundation said.

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