瑞典体重超标的儿童越来越多，由此引发的健康问题也层出不穷，因此，瑞典全国儿童肥胖中心日前决定将在近期内开始对4岁孩子的体重状况进行一次全国性普查。

    据法新社3月6日报道，瑞典全国儿童肥胖中心的负责人克劳德·马库斯日前表示：“对于那些体重超标的儿童来说，他们将体形恢复到原有水平的可能性正变得越来越低。一旦赘肉缠身，再想摆脱它们可就没那么容易了，所以尽早把问题搞清就显得十分重要。”

    马库斯说，瑞典儿科医生已经被告知，除记录该国4岁儿童的身高及体重等发育情况外，他们还必须计算出这些孩子的体重指数。该指数是将一个人的体重（kg）除以身高（m）的平方所得到的数值，它可以反映出脂肪和肌肉在人体内所占比例的大小。该指数一直被认为是判断一个人肥胖与否的最佳指标。瑞典南部斯科讷地区儿童肥胖中心的首席医生卡尔·埃里克·弗罗德马克说：“对于大多数儿童来说，其所面临的体重问题要等到长大以后才会逐渐显现出来，但我们希望通过这次普查能找出正处于高危状态下的孩子以及那些从遗传角度来讲体重最容易超标的孩子。”

    报道说，瑞典儿童一向以身体健康而闻名，但近年来有大量研究结果显示，该国儿童体重超标及肥胖发生率正呈不断上升的趋势。举例来说，研究人员曾在1989年和2003年对斯德哥尔摩市7岁儿童的体重指数进行过两次调查，结果发现当地儿童体重超标者所占的比例从8％猛增至21％。马库斯说：“在过去15年到20年的时间里，儿童体重问题的发展趋势既令人难以置信又使人忧心忡忡。肥胖正以闪电般的速度在孩子们中流行开来。”他强调说：“如果这种趋势不能得到及时扭转的话，那么今天的这些儿童将会成为现代社会里首次出现的预期寿命短于自己父母的一代人。”“儿童肥胖问题正在成为一种全球性的传染病。”

    Sweden will begin screening all four-year-olds for obesity in an attempt to curb health risks linked to the increased incidence of overweight children.

    "There is now a national recommendation to all pediatricians to register BMI (the body mass index) in four-year-olds," Claude Marcus, the head of the national center for child obesity at Stockholm's Karolinska Hospital, told AFP.

    "The prognosis for children who are overweight is getting worse and worse. They're having a harder time losing the weight once they gain it, so it's important to identify the problem as early as possible," he added Monday.

    In addition to registering Swedish four-year-olds' height and weight development, pediatricians will be asked to survey their BMI, which measures the relative percentages of fat and muscle mass in the body by dividing weight in kilos by height in meters and which is considered the best index for obesity.

    "In most children, weight problems won't surface until later, but by checking four-year-olds we hope to find people who are especially at risk, who are genetically predisposed to become overweight," Carl-Erik Flodmark, head physician at the child obesity center in Skaane in southern Sweden, told AFP.

    The move to screen BMI in four-year-olds follows a slew of reports showing an increased incidence of Sweden's traditionally healthy children being overweight or obese.

    Two separate surveys of BMI in Stockholm's seven-year-olds in 1989 and 2003, revealed for instance that the number of overweight children soared from eight to 21 percent.

    "There has been an incredibly frightening development over the past 15 to 20 years. Obesity among children has increased at lightning speed," Marcus said, adding that if the trend is not turned around "today's children will be the first generation in modern times to have an expected lifespan that is shorter than that of their parents' generation."

    Most developed countries have experienced similar increases in obesity among children.

    "There is a global child obesity pandemic going on," Marcus said.

    In Sweden, where virtually all children regularly go for check-ups at state-run medical clinics and public school, there is meanwhile a good chance of curbing the problem if obesity screening begins early enough, Flodmark pointed out.

    "The organization needed to do something about this is already in place," he said.