British children are much shorter than other rich nations - why that's a sign of far more serious problems for Greater Manchester kids
Five-year-olds in Britain are, on average, up to seven centimetres shorter than children in other wealthy nations, new data has revealed.
Children in Italy, Spain, France and Sweden are all much taller at age five, on average, than UK youngsters of the same age. The average height in Britain has stayed the same since the mid-1980s, whereas children in other countries, especially in Eastern Europe, have grown taller in the decades since.
In 2020, an Imperial College London team behind a study into height of children up to the age of 19 sawa similar decline. They found global height rankings for the UK had worsened over the past 35 years, with 19-year-old boys falling from 28th tallest in 1985 to 39th in 2019 , and 19-year-old girls from 42nd to 49th .
“And they’re often feeding children with food that isn’t nutritious, they get food to make them full because that’s what they can afford. These families are looking at fried chicken and chips for £1.50, £2 – food that’s packed with sugar.” Across the region, longstanding regional inequities have made Greater Manchester’s health worse in comparison to other parts of the country - not just for children. Historically, the region has been poorer than parts of the south of England, meaning more families are left struggling and councils have been disproportionately underfunded, particularly during austerity.
“[They sway the choices] in terms of choosing how much or their ability to exercise, their dietary choices in terms of food types, and indeed, the way that they cope with things like stress in the workplace or at home, which might be related to food choices and other habits, including things like alcohol or tobacco consumption.”
“[Where you live] plays into things like social class and access to health care and the ability to look after yourself, what sort of services around you, what sort of pressures are, are there, what sort of food you eat, what sort of habits you have been brought up with, and what sort of food choices and the health choices you're making as an individual.”
“I have also noticed a marked increase in the number of milkshake and dessert shops, I think they are more prevalent where poverty exists. It’s a double whammy.” Rates of type 2 diabetes in the under-40s are now increasing faster than in the over-40s, with cases up by 23 per cent in the last five years. A type 2 diagnosis at a younger age can lead to more complications, including kidney and heart disease, says Diabetes UK.
“Inflation isn’t coming down, do we believe that’s not going to have an impact on our children? I’ve seen the impact of a shortage of food and poor nutrition all the time as a GP, but also just on the streets as well.” “Places like Oldham and Rochdale already have historic injustices within their societies and for their children. If we’re serious, it could be solved,” he explains.
But over in Manchester, borough leader Bev Craig is putting her political weight behind the cause. “Over the last 13 years with austerity, it's fair to say that it's felt like something that the government does to places rather than places having the ability or ownership to be able to do some things for themselves,” she told the M.E.N. in March, when Manchester Council launched a new plan taking aim at inequality in the city.
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