Paul Herring at 20:38, 15 April 2018

2018-04-15T20:38:06Z

Paul Herring: Created page with "in the UK there is currently (2018) a panic that there is an epidemic of childhood obesity. There isn't - it's all statistics being tortured in order to allow things like..."

2018-04-15T20:34:41Z

Created page with "in the UK there is currently (2018) a panic that there is an epidemic of childhood obesity. There isn't - it's all statistics being tortured in order to allow things like..."

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in the UK there is currently (2018) a panic that there is an epidemic of [[childhood obesity]]. There isn't - it's all statistics being tortured in order to allow things like a [[sugar tax]] to be implemented.

For example, it is claimed that (2016/17) that 9.6% of 4/5 year-olds were obese, rising to 20% for 10/11 year-olds <ref>[https://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB30113 National Child Measurement Programme - England, 2016-17] - NHS Digital</ref>

However these figures are based on a torturing of the widely derided [[BMI]] (fails to differentiate between fat and muscle e.g.,) which is at best only a guide for adults (sportsmen and old people need not apply) but is totally unsuitable for children.

{{quote|But it doesn’t work with children. Kids are not shaped like adults, do not have the same fat/muscle ratio and are growing. They rarely have a BMI over 30. An obese child can easily have a BMI of less than 25. Moreover, obese girls have different BMIs than obese boys.

To make up for this, clinicians use a chart like the one below which gives bespoke, age-specific and gender-specific BMI cut-offs for children. For example, at the age of six and a half, boys are considered obese if their BMI exceeds 20.2. By the time the boy is eleven, the cut-off has risen to 25.1.<ref>[https://health.spectator.co.uk/no-one-in-three-children-arent-obese-this-headline-grabbing-figure-is-a-statistical-invention/ https://health.spectator.co.uk/no-one-in-three-children-arent-obese-this-headline-grabbing-figure-is-a-statistical-invention/] - The Spectator</ref>

[[file:Boys_bmi_chart.jpeg|frameless|thumbnail|Boy's BMI chart]]

[...]

Taken together, this suggested that the obesity rate among young British adults circa 1990 was less than two per cent and that a realistic cut-off point for childhood obesity was the 98th or 99th percentile. In a later study, Cole and Lobstein concluded that ‘the obesity cut-off is well above the 98th centile’.

So that means we use the 98th percentile as the cut-off when estimating child obesity figures today, right?

Wrong. We use the 95th percentile.
}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-in the UK there is currently (2018) a panic that there is an epidemic of [[childhood obesity]]. There isn't - it's all statistics being tortured in order to allow things like a [[sugar tax]] to be implemented.
+In the UK there is currently (2018) a panic that there is an epidemic of [[childhood obesity]]. There isn't - it's all statistics being tortured in order to allow things like a [[sugar tax]] to be implemented.
 For example, it is claimed that (2016/17) that 9.6% of 4/5 year-olds were obese, rising to 20% for 10/11 year-olds <ref>[https://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB30113  National Child Measurement Programme - England, 2016-17] - NHS Digital</ref>
@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 {{quote|But it doesn’t work with children. Kids are not shaped like adults, do not have the same fat/muscle ratio and are growing. They rarely have a BMI over 30. An obese child can easily have a BMI of less than 25. Moreover, obese girls have different BMIs than obese boys.
-To make up for this, clinicians use a chart like the one below which gives bespoke, age-specific and gender-specific BMI cut-offs for children. For example, at the age of six and a half, boys are considered obese if their BMI exceeds 20.2. By the time the boy is eleven, the cut-off has risen to 25.1.<ref>[https://health.spectator.co.uk/no-one-in-three-children-arent-obese-this-headline-grabbing-figure-is-a-statistical-invention/ https://health.spectator.co.uk/no-one-in-three-children-arent-obese-this-headline-grabbing-figure-is-a-statistical-invention/] - The Spectator</ref>
+To make up for this, clinicians use a chart like the one below which gives bespoke, age-specific and gender-specific BMI cut-offs for children. For example, at the age of six and a half, boys are considered obese if their BMI exceeds 20.2. By the time the boy is eleven, the cut-off has risen to 25.1.
 [[file:Boys_bmi_chart.jpeg|frameless|thumbnail|Boy's BMI chart]]
@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 So that means we use the 98th percentile as the cut-off when estimating child obesity figures today, right?
-Wrong. We use the 95th percentile.
+Wrong. We use the 95th percentile.<ref>[https://health.spectator.co.uk/no-one-in-three-children-arent-obese-this-headline-grabbing-figure-is-a-statistical-invention/ https://health.spectator.co.uk/no-one-in-three-children-arent-obese-this-headline-grabbing-figure-is-a-statistical-invention/] - The Spectator</ref>
 }}
 ==References==
 {{Reflist}}

Childhood obesity - Revision history

Paul Herring at 20:38, 15 April 2018

Paul Herring: Created page with "in the UK there is currently (2018) a panic that there is an epidemic of childhood obesity. There isn't - it's all statistics being tortured in order to allow things like..."