‘British children are not shrinking’, but child height is increasing for the wrong reasons: trends and inequalities in child measurement programme data for England, Scotland and Wales

This work complements research describing a causal link from child obesity to increased height during childhood and implies mean height may be an unreliable indicator of child health when obesity is prevalent and rising. In Britain, increases in overall mean child height and narrowing socioeconomic inequalities in child height during the 21st century may reflect widening inequalities in obesity and worsening health among deprived children.