London - Wartime diseases are making a comeback among children because their junk food diets are worse than during rationing, warn experts.
Conditions such as scurvy and rickets are being fuelled by too many takeaways and microwave meals, it is claimed.
But poor nutrition has not stopped many from becoming obese, it is feared, as they are putting on weight from eating the wrong sorts of food.
Doctors’ leader Mark Temple said it was a “great tragedy” that some families gain less goodness from their food than those coping with rationing in the Second World War.
“Food standards are worse now than they were during the rationing during the war,” he said. “That’s a strong indictment on the food industry.”
Latest figures show that 10 percent of pupils are obese when they start school. The proportion doubles to almost 20 percent in those about to start secondary education.
Dr Temple, chairman of the British Medical Association’s public health medicine committee, said: “Obesity is a major health threat and we ought to be doing something about it.”
Sioned Quirke, a member of the British Dietetic Association, warned that relying on fast food was leading to a rise in diseases last commonly seen during the early 20th century.
Working in the Rhondda Valleys, South Wales, she has seen rising numbers of childhood illnesses thought to have been eradicated. “Rickets and scurvy are coming back,” she said.
“When I was training ten years ago, we thought we would not come across them. These conditions are long-term. If the bones are affected by vitamin deficiency, they are affected for life.”
Last year, child health experts said the incidence of rickets rose four-fold in the last 15 years as young children were not getting enough vitamin D.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said cases went up from 183 in 1995/96 to 762 in 2011. Latest figures for 2008 show that 94 children were treated in NHS hospitals for scurvy.
However, many health authorities classify it as malnutrition rather than as a separate condition.
Quirke said: “For some groups, diet and nutrition has reverted to being as poor as it was 100 years ago.
‘The difference between now and then is that this is out of choice. People say fruit and vegetables are not affordable when they are.”
Rickets is caused by a lack of calcium and vitamin D from foods like oily fish and eggs, making bones soft and malformed. Scurvy can be caused by a lack of vitamin C, which is vital to make collagen. If this protein is not replaced, tissue breaks down, leading to muscle and joint pain. The gums may also bleed and swell.
Vitamin C cannot be made by the body so must come from food.
Rationing began in January 1940 and one person’s typical weekly allowance was: a fresh egg; 4oz margarine and bacon (about four rashers); 2oz butter and tea; 1oz cheese; and 8oz sugar.. - Daily Mail