Welcome to our news and blogs. Here you’ll find the latest developments and insights from across our four longitudinal studies.
Obesity rates among children with learning difficulties are higher and rise faster than children without these disabilities, according to findings from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).
Smoking during pregnancy and being overweight before becoming pregnant account for around 40 per cent of the social divide in childhood obesity rates.
Private school pupils are more likely than their peers at comprehensives to have a lower body mass index (BMI) by the time they reach their early 40s. They also spend less time watching television and eat fewer take-away meals, according to new research published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Obese boys from the least advantaged neighbourhoods are significantly less likely to lose weight over the course of primary school than their peers in better-off areas, according to new research.
Children are not active enough in the autumn and winter months, and spend too much time sitting indoors compared to other times of the year. According to researchers from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit and Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR) at the University of Cambridge children were most active during weekends […]
Researchers from University College London (UCL) and the London School of Economics have found that nearly 14% of 11-year-olds had drunk more than a few sips of alcohol at least once. Children whose mothers drank heavily were 80% more likely to drink than children whose mothers did not drink and boys were more likely to […]
Author and journalist Helen Pearson tells the story of the UK birth cohort studies in her new book, The Life Project: The Extraordinary Story of Our Ordinary Lives. The studies, which follow people born in a single point in time throughout their lives, are tracking five generations of Britons, from the post-war baby boomers to […]
Children who see their parents divorce before age 7 are more likely than those who experience it at a later age to report health problems in their fifties, according to a new study.
New findings from the Millennium Cohort Study have questioned why poorer children are at higher risk of obesity compared to their better-off peers.
New research has found that young children with no access to a garden are far more likely to be overweight or obese by the time they reach seven.
An investigation into the effect of growing up in social housing on child development reveals significant changes since the 1970s.
Making people aware of their weight problems may not help them to improve their health.
Ryan Bradshaw
Senior Communications Officer
Phone: 020 7612 6516
Email: r.bradshaw@ucl.ac.uk