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Health experts are warning that children are more unhealthy today than they were during post-war rationing. Evidence suggests youngsters could be making themselves "pre-ill" with a diet dependent on junk food.
A conference at the Royal College of Paediatrics in London on Thursday will hear that the snack culture of the twenty-first century is creating a whole generation which is eating itself sick.
Rickets
More than two thirds of pre-school children are fed an unhealthy diet of white bread, chips and sweets.
A quarter of them are over-weight and 5% are not getting enough vitamin D.
Some are even developing rickets.
The conference will hear how over half five to 18 year olds eat no leafy green vegetables, relying instead on junk food saturated with fat and salt
Diabetes
Some experts predict that by 2030, half of all adults will be obese and plagued by associated illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and strokes.
Conference organisers hope to address why children are leading such unhealthy lifestyles and where the dependence on junk food stems from.
They will also discuss what can be done now to ensure they do not end up sick adults.
[BBC News Online]
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Last Revised at December 10, 2007 by Lusine Kazoyan, M.D.
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