Why Are Girls Fatter Than Boys?

The beautiful blond women of Sweden are facing a huge problem: they are getting increasingly fatter.

Swedish researchers are puzzled by an unusual situation: Swedish little girls are more predisposed to obesity than little boys are. A recent investigation made by a team at Sweden's Uppsala University revealed that nowadays, 4-year-old girls present six times higher rates of obesity than they did 20 years ago. "This indicates that there is a relatively recent change in our lifestyles that is behind this. But it's difficult to say what that is", said lead researcher Ulf Holmback.

There is a general weight increase amongst the European nations, but in the Swedish case, this is a question of gender. In 1982, 1 % of all 4-year-olds were classified as obese while in 2002, 2 % of the 4-year old boys matched; however, in case of girls, the percentage was 6 % and same discrepancy was found in the 10-year-old category.

In the case of the overweight (not obese) children, the numbers doubled to 20 % for girls and 18 % for boys since 1982. A 1.05 m (42 inch) tall child weighing 20 kg (50 pounds) is considered obese; at 18 kg (45 pounds), s/he is overweight. "One biological explanation could be that boys are more active, and when the calorie load increases, maybe girls are more affected", said Carl-Erik Flodmark, head of the child obesity center at Malmo University Hospital.

Compiled data show the uniqueness of the Swedish case: in other European Union countries the differences in the obesity levels for boys and girls are very small. Moreover, where large discrepancies between the two genders occur (as it happens in Greece and Estonia), boys are more predisposed to obesity.

And among adults across Europe, women are generally slimmer than men. In 1980, Sweden was among the slimmest of the Western nations, but adult obesity has doubled from 5 % to 10 % by 2005 in both sexes; still, 50 % of men are overweight, much more than women (only 36 %).

This would place it in the middle of the European statistics, before Germany, Greece and the Czech Republic. Still, these number are much lower than in the US, where 71 % of men and 67 % of women are overweight, with an obese adult population of 33 %.

The Swedish researchers warn that nowadays, obese girls suffer even more under the pressure of the modern beauty ideals established and promoted by the media.