Size of school uniforms on offer ‘worrying’ say doctors

Super size school uniforms on sale show the extent of the obesity crisis among children and teenagers, doctors say.

A tailor at The Uniform Center, holds up a 28in and 38in pair of pants. Reem Falaknaz / The National

ABU DHABI // School uniform retailers are selling boys’ trousers with waists of up to 44 inches, or 110cm.

The size of school clothes is worrying obesity experts. “These are some very, very big sizes,” said Dr Ahed Bisharat, a paediatrics consultant at Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi. “It is due to obesity. It is a big issue.”

Doctors say a boy aged 12 should weigh 90lb, or just under 41kg, and have a 29-inch waist. They also suggest your waist should measure no more than half your height. Particularly for young people, this ratio might be a better indicator of overall health than body mass index.

It means the 44-inch trousers sold at the American International School in Abu Dhabi would be suitable for someone 7ft 4in tall – or 2in taller than the vertiginous US basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The Uniform Centre in Dubai stocks school trousers with a 42-inch waist. The school uniform specialist Stitches has a school shirt with a 46-inch chest and 42-inch trousers. “Though we can make bigger if you need us to,” they said.

The school uniform stockists Zaks stock large sizes for a number of schools.

A sales representative said the largest school trousers they had in stock were a 38½-inch waist. These are often sold for children aged 12 to 14. The store also offers a made-to-measure service for children who cannot fit into the shop’s standard sizes.

Dr Bisharat said a sedentary lifestyle and an addiction to junk food were often the cause of childhood obesity.

“Awareness of this should be more and more in the school and parents should be educated to not offer such food to children,” he said. “We have more and more obese children in the UAE and it can lead to many diseases.”

Dr Talal Farha, a paediatric consultant at Farha Children Clinic in Dubai, also expressed concern over clothing sizes.

“The trend to do with the increased weight in children has been worrying for many, many years now,” he said. “It is very obvious it has been going in the wrong direction.

“It is only spelling major trouble for communities and economy in the future.”

There are short-term and long-term effects associated with obesity among the young, he said.

The immediate complication is poor self esteem and being at risk of bullying by their peers.

Longer-term, being overweight or obese increases the chance of developing other illnesses as well as joint problems and a reduced ability to fight infection.

A study last year found one in three children were overweight or obese and at risk of early diabetes and hypertension.

Dr Fadhel Al Ateeqi, head of the paediatrics department at Healthpoint Abu Dhabi, said excess weight could lead to many health complications including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease, gallstones and heart disease.

He said it was important that children did at least 60 minutes of moderate physical activity every day, ate a balanced diet and had sufficient sleep.