1 in 5 overweight when start school
NHS figures show that over one in five children in England start their school life overweight or obese. Shockingly this rises to 1 in 3 by the end of primary school, which makes the child approximately 11. The statistics showed that obesity levels were higher in London, the North East and West Midlands than elsewhere in 2008-9.
The data revealed that more boys than girls were overweight in both reception and year six, 24% of boys aged four to five were overweight or obese, while 21.5% of girls were. In the 10 to 11-year-old age group, 34.5% of boys and 30.7% of girls weighed too much.
Public health minister, Gillian Merron, said evidence is stacking up to suggest that child obesity is “levelling off. It’s important to monitor children’s weight and wellbeing, and I’m glad that we achieved a 90% take up of the scheme. But we need to keep the momentum going.We’ll only turn the tide on obesity for good if everyone plays their part.”
It is already known that obesity can cause health problems such has heart disease and diabetes but the scary factor is that we could out live our children should this problem not be addressed and measures put in place to correct the problem.
Tags: Government, health, obesity, Research, weight loss