Minority children ‘at greater risk of health problems’

Children from minority backgrounds are at greater risk of weight problems and obesity than native-born white youngsters.

This is the conclusion of a report from a new US-based study, which assessed data for 6,816 children from the US and the UK to analyse childhood weight problems among certain demographics.

It found that in England children of native-born black and Asian mothers have a higher risk of being overweight, while a similar trend was noted among Hispanic and black youngsters in the US.

According to the study, this could indicate that more research is needed into the consequences of the immigration process and its related stresses for children.

Alicia Adsera and Marta Tienda, editors of the issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in which this study appeared, noted: "Migration requires youths to make sense of a new country by learning to navigate the social institutions of their host society and, more often than not, a new language."

The prevalence of obesity in England has more than doubled in the last 25 years, a particularly high rate of increase even given the general upward trend in obesity cases worldwide.