Children as young as TEN are having hip and knee replacements on the NHS because they are so obese

Eleven girls and six boys have had new hips on the NHS in the past four years
Two obese girls, aged between 10 and 19, had knee replacements in that period
The number of obese adults and children needing joint replacements has soared by 70 per cent since 2014

Obese children as young as 10 are having hip and knee replacement operations on the NHS, it has been revealed.

Eleven girls and six boys, aged between 10 and 19, had new hips on the NHS in the past four years, figures from NHS Digital have revealed. Seven of the girls had their operations in the past year.

And two obese girls, aged between 10 and 19, needed knee replacements over that period due to weight-related joint damage.

And the number of both obese adults and children needing joint replacements has soared by 70 per cent since 2014, according to The Mirror. The surgeries cost the NHS £230million in 2017 alone.

Professor John Wass, an adviser on obesity at the Royal College of Physicians, told the Mirror the figures are 'horrifying.'

He called for primary schools to have regular weigh-ins and for a ban on junk food advertisements on television before 9am.

But the British Obesity Society's Jane DeVille-Amond said it was parents who needed to act.

'Many friends and family unintentionally sabotage a child's attempt to change,' she told the Mirror.

More than a third of children are classified as overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school aged 11, which increases their risk of developing conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart and liver disease in later life.

NHS Digital revealed last month that 20.1 per cent of 10 to 11 year olds and 9.5 per cent of four to five year olds are classed as obese.

Earlier this year, the Department of Health announced new measures including getting pupils to move more and reduce their exposure to sugary and fatty foods in a bid to halve childhood obesity by 2030.

The government also called on the food industry to recognise the harm that adverts promoting unhealthy food can cause.

'The cost of obesity – both on individual lives and our NHS – is too great to ignore,' Jeremy Hunt, then Health Secretary, said at the time.

'Today we are taking steps to ensure that by 2030, children from all backgrounds have the help they need for a healthier, more active start in life

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6402949/Obese-children-having-hip-knee-replacements-NHS.html

I've always thought the sugar tax won't work. What has to happen is parents need to learn to say no, stop being lazy cooks and stop letting kids have sweets and chocolates every single day of their lives. This is insane. You rarely saw a fat person under 60 when I was a kid.

We had one fat girl in our year at school....I remember her because it was unusual for schoolkids to be overweight back then, now it's the norm.

Many families now dont even sit down for family meals, they graze and eat rubbish, and bad eating habits start in the home even before a child is old enough to spend money on fattening rubbish.

put the lazy fat fuckers on a proper diet

Non-medical people thinking they know the best medical advice

wow

Syl wrote:We had one fat girl in our year at school....I remember her because it was unusual for schoolkids to be overweight back then, now it's the norm.

Many families now dont even sit down for family meals, they graze and eat rubbish, and bad eating habits start in the home even before a child is old enough to spend money on fattening rubbish.

It's setting kids up for life to be unhealthy. That's the concern. Our food has gone downhill since the late 70's/1980's. That's when I can pinpoint it. I remember ice cream was made with cream, not the shite they put in it now. Everything tasted better. Chocolate was a treat not part of our regular diet, and of course, we walked everywhere and played out as kids until we were exhausted. I have a nephew who has a Smart TV in his room, Xbox, Computer and mobile phone and he's not even ten. He has no friends that come round to play, and has the most awful tantrums when he's been using his iPad. Something to do with mirror neurons. God knows It's scary.

gelico wrote:

put the lazy fat fuckers on a proper diet

It's not the kids' fault. It's the parents. I read an article the other day about how science is discovering that our brains do get invaded by bacteria from our guts...and how there might be a link to mental health, dementia, and Parkinsons. Let's face it, 90 years ago nobody thought fags killed you. The technology and the meddling with the food chain is relatively new. It'll take generations for the real implications to come to light.

The problem is 3 fold...

1. Too much poor quality low nutritional value food, so body always hungry and wants to eat more to get enough minerals/vitamins etc = too many overall calories, and unhealthy additives that actually negatively interfere with digestive system/nutrient absorption and body function.

2. Too much fizzy pop...

3. Little or no exercise

Tommy Monk wrote:The problem is 3 fold...

1. Too much poor quality low nutritional value food, so body always hungry and wants to eat more to get enough minerals/vitamins etc = too many overall calories, and unhealthy additives that actually negatively interfere with digestive system/nutrient absorption and body function.

2. Too much fizzy pop...

3. Little or no exercise

Agreed. I'm not sure how much we can nanny people though. It's all about choices.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:We had one fat girl in our year at school....I remember her because it was unusual for schoolkids to be overweight back then, now it's the norm.

Many families now dont even sit down for family meals, they graze and eat rubbish, and bad eating habits start in the home even before a child is old enough to spend money on fattening rubbish.

It's setting kids up for life to be  unhealthy.    That's the concern.   Our food has gone downhill since the late 70's/1980's.  That's when I can pinpoint it.   I remember ice cream was made with cream, not the shite they put in it now.  Everything tasted better.  Chocolate was a treat not part of our regular diet, and of course, we walked everywhere and played out as kids until we were exhausted.   I have a nephew who has a Smart TV in his room, Xbox, Computer and mobile phone and he's not even ten.   He has no friends that come round to play, and has the most awful tantrums when he's been using his iPad.    Something to do with mirror neurons.  God knows  It's scary.

The world has changed so much in the last few decades. We were poor as were many back in the 50's and 60' when I grew up, but we ate good home cooked food every day, and a bottle of pop or a bar of chocolate was a Sunday treat. Like you say we walked everywhere, played out, schools did more sports than they seem to do now, and even the girls who hated sports had to participate...there was no picking and choosing and making excuses...we all played netball, hockey, and we all had to attend gym lessons....now the human rights brigade would probably defend a kids right not to wear navy knickers or something.

Syl wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

It's setting kids up for life to be  unhealthy.    That's the concern.   Our food has gone downhill since the late 70's/1980's.  That's when I can pinpoint it.   I remember ice cream was made with cream, not the shite they put in it now.  Everything tasted better.  Chocolate was a treat not part of our regular diet, and of course, we walked everywhere and played out as kids until we were exhausted.   I have a nephew who has a Smart TV in his room, Xbox, Computer and mobile phone and he's not even ten.   He has no friends that come round to play, and has the most awful tantrums when he's been using his iPad.    Something to do with mirror neurons.  God knows  It's scary.

The world has changed so much in the last few decades. We were poor as were many back in the 50's and 60' when I grew up, but we ate good home cooked food every day, and a bottle of pop or a bar of chocolate was a Sunday treat. Like you say we walked everywhere, played out, schools did more sports than they seem to do now, and even the girls who hated sports had to participate...there was no picking and choosing and making excuses...we all played netball, hockey, and we all had to attend gym lessons....now the human rights brigade would probably defend a kids right not to wear navy knickers or something.

I was always skinny and we all ate big meals in our house because my mum was a war baby and we weren't allowed to leave any food. She'd lived through rationing, so her way of looking after us was to make sure we got good food. Plus, she was an excellent cook. So, it has to be a combination of what is in our food, and the lack of exercise.

Most kids were skinny back then, and skinny kids usually dont end up as morbidly obese adults.
I fear for the state of the nations health when these fat kids grow up.
It's scandalous if children need joint replacements because of their weight.

I have a preliminary comment. This study is not about the conclusion that obesity is causing these joint replacement. It is Dr. Wass' hypothesis: the children are obese; the joint replacements are performed...therefore obesity caused the problem. Apparently this association is secondary, being used to criticize the diets children have. Nowhere does he have any direct evidence actually concluding that obesity is causing the need for joint replacements.

This is understandable because of the physician privacy privilege. No one has queried the treating surgeons, nor even the medical records of the children, to ascertain why the joint replacements were necessary. Personally, I would hesitate to conclude the causal link between mere weight and the replacements, because (1) the children are all young; and (2) generally joint replacements are for a limited span of time, and almost all must be themselves replaced within at least a dozen years; thus (3) the common practice is to only perform them on the elderly, unless the need is extraordinary.

Which leads me to ask if there isn't something extraordinary in the children he has studied. I question Dr. Wass' attribution of these surgeries to merely weight of the patients. I'm not saying it couldn't be; I'm only saying that it's borderline malpractice to be giving children joint replacements, knowing that they must be repeated every decade or so, without there being some other reason.

Today nearly a third of children aged 2 to 15 are overweight or obese1 2 and younger generations are becoming obese at earlier ages and staying obese for longer.3 Reducing obesity levels will save lives as obesity doubles the risk of dying prematurely.4 Obese adults are seven times more likely to become a type 2 diabetic than adults of a healthy weight5 which may cause blindness or limb amputation. And not only are obese people more likely to get physical health conditions like heart disease, they are also more likely to be living with conditions like depression.6 7

The economic costs are great, too. We spend more each year on the treatment of obesity and diabetes than we do on the police, fire service and judicial system combined.8 It was estimated that the NHS in England spent £5.1 billion on overweight and obesity-related ill-health in 2014/15

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action

I'm not sure I believe this. I don't see many obese kids, but I see a lot of obese adults. I don't know anyone who had a knee or hip replacement because they were too fat.

Having said that, I do see people using mobility scooters or having difficulty walking - and they are huge! If they lost weight, it might help.

Raggamuffin wrote:I'm not sure I believe this. I don't see many obese kids, but I see a lot of obese adults. I don't know anyone who had a knee or hip replacement because they were too fat.

Having said that, I do see people using mobility scooters or having difficulty walking - and they are huge! If they lost weight, it might help.

I agree. Hip and knee replacements generally are secondary to osteoarthritis. You find osteoarthritis mostly in seniors, although weight is certainly a contributing factor.

Original Quill wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:I'm not sure I believe this. I don't see many obese kids, but I see a lot of obese adults. I don't know anyone who had a knee or hip replacement because they were too fat.

Having said that, I do see people using mobility scooters or having difficulty walking - and they are huge! If they lost weight, it might help.

I agree.  Hip and knee replacements generally are secondary to osteoarthritis.  You find osteoarthritis mostly in seniors, although weight is certainly a contributing factor.

Yes, and I don't think children have had time to have much wear and tear of their knee or hip joints.

I see lots of really overweight school kids in this area.
There are also many really obese younger women, often partnered with skinny blokes.
If men pile weight on it seems to be when they pass middle age.