Health professionals will form a task force tonight to tackle Bermuda's rising obesity rates - which threaten to have the same devastating effect as the AIDS epidemic in developed countries.

Hospital Diabetes Centre coordinator Debbie Jones called for radical action to curb alarming rates of obesity in the island's youngsters, linked to rising rates of Type Two diabetes.

Diabetes is the prime cause of coronary heart disease, the number one killer in Bermuda. The disease also is leading cause of kidney failure, blindness and lower leg amputation on the Island.

Mrs. Jones said the hospital dietician now had up to 40 obese children getting treatment.

She said: "You would never have looked for children overweight to this extent before. We saw 20- and 30-year-olds who were overweight, but to see children?"

She said fat children were now a common sight while thin children seemed to stand out now. Figures show that 57 percent of adults in Bermuda are overweight.

Mrs. Jones said this was affecting younger and younger children with cases of high blood pressure reported in youngsters.

Five children in Bermuda's schools have developed Type Two diabetes as a result of obesity, according to the Diabetes Centre.

Mrs. Jones said: "The youngest child we have is ten. We were shocked. To see 14, 15, and 16-year-olds getting this over the last ten years was bad enough but when you start seeing a ten-year-olds?

"There's a lot more out there who haven't been diagnosed. A lot of paediatricians are really concerned about the rise in obesity."

She said the director for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta predicted the problem would have a huge impact on forcing up health care costs.

"It's similar to AIDS, the same impact on money. It's enormous."

She said developed countries are all seeing a problem as children shunned outdoor activity in favour of watching TV and playing video games.

Genetics account for fewer than 30 percent of juvenile obesity cases according to studies which is why Mrs. Jones is calling for lifestyle changes at school.

She said 30 to 40 minutes of exercise daily was the answer, for both adults and children.

"That's two and a half to three hours a week. Everyone should be able to do that."

Bermuda should follow the US's lead where they have appointed a person to work for the Surgeon General to force changes to promote healthy living, said Mrs. Jones.

"We need to do the same."

But she is concerned that in the senior years of some schools children could opt out of exercise totally.

"They are doing nothing. This should be changed. There should be physical activity everyday."

She said the excuse was given that there was no time to fit in extra exercise.

Mrs. Jones suggested having schools open until 5 p.m. She said this would be popular with working parents while teachers could be persuaded if they were paid extra to stay behind.

One PE teacher told The Royal Gazette he had noticed a rise in overweight and inactive children.

He said: "Even our basketball team for the middle school are sucking in wind just doing laps."

Tonight's symposium at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute is a follow-up to the obesity symposium last November addressed by North American and Caribbean experts.

The meeting will set up a task force to plug the problems of obesity.

Mrs. Jones said doctors, dieticians and educators were due to come.

She said she believed it was vital that Government support the plan.

"If we don't address it we won't be able to afford the health care required to look after people who will have early heart disease or lost limbs or who are going on dialysis. We can't afford not to look at this."

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