Forecasts of a huge rise in obesity among children in England have been significantly downgraded following a new analysis of data.
The National Heart Forum found evidence that the rate of increase in childhood obesity may be starting to slow.
Its figures suggest that by 2020 the proportion of boys aged 2-11 who will be overweight or obese will be 30% - not 42% as previously predicted.
For girls of the same age the revised prediction is now 27% - down from 48%.
The revised predictions also indicate a big drop in the number of overweight and obese young people aged 12-19.
They represent the first sign of encouraging news for decades, as obesity rates have been rising in England - as in most developed nations - since the 1970s.
A similar trend has been recorded in several other countries, including the US, France and Denmark.
There are currently 1.5 million children in England who are overweight or obese - leaving them at increased risk of health problems such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
The Department of Health has set a target of reducing the number of overweight and obese children to 2000 levels by 2020.
The National Heart Forum based its latest predictions on data collected for the Health Survey for England between 2000 and 2007.
Previous estimates were based on data collected for the same survey between 1993 and 2004.
The researchers said it was not clear why obesity levels might have levelled off, but said government interventions and media coverage may have played a role. Read more...
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