Friday 17 August 2007

Forget about size zero girls, the real hidden health crisis is an epidemic of seriously fat boys. In the last ten years the number of obese boys has almost doubled. In primary schools boys are now getting fatter faster than girls. Obesity is a life-threatening condition.

Classical singer Nicky Spence, who was formerly a morbidly obese 25 stone, argues passionately that we must target policies to help fat boys lose weight through diet and exercise, or else condemn them to life-threatening illnesses like Type II diabetes and heart disease.

Nicky started to pile on the pounds when he was 12 because he was so unhappy after his father left home. On a visit home to Dumfries he talks about his weight gain with his mother, who acknowledges she was partly to blame. And when he was a teenager, Nicky worked in a local chippie, Marco's Fish Bar, peeling the spuds.

The local school children still swarm there every day for their lunch. Deep fried Mars bars are a house speciality with deep fried Creme Eggs on the menu at Easter. Nicky says, "For every Jamie Oliver there's a thousand Marco's helping Scotland's boys get fat."

Nicky knows that his own overeating began at home, being overfed by his mother. So he talks to Rotherham GP Dr Matt Capehorn, who has suggested that it might be better to allow Social Services to take seriously obese children away from their parents for the good of their long term health.

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