Childhood obesity is one of Europe’s most serious public health challenges. Around 20% of European children are overweight and one third of them obese. And as childhood obesity has the status of a disease, it is now classified as an epidemic.

The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is already so high in Europe that obesity-related diseases and complications in later life, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and psychosocial disorders, may very well lead to many European children living much shorter lives than their parents. This is a serious concern for young generations and deserves constant attention from the European institutions.

The European Childhood Obesity Group (ECOG) is a European association which brings together over 150 leading researchers, medical and public health professionals in the field of childhood obesity from across Europe.

In 2010 ECOG celebrated the 20 year anniversary, with 4 days of events and conferences in Brussels, hosting the largest congress to date, bringing together hundreds of childhood obesity experts and young scientists from across Europe to Brussels to discuss new developments, priorities and ways forward for the EU’s new institutional framework. They act as a catalyst, bringing together many more stakeholders and contributing constructively to the work of the new European Parliament and new European Commission on this issue of childhood obesity.

Their mission is to help the European community at large to understand fully the health, social, psychological and economic impacts of childhood obesity, and work together to take this growing problem off the menu in Europe.

Business Solutions Europa is the General Secretariat of ECOG.