Primary one children facing obesity nudges 10 per cent

KIRSTEN MCSTAY

The percentage of South Lanarkshire school children who are at risk of being obese in primary one has risen.

New government figures have revealed a slight yearon-year increase, following a survey of almost 2900 youngsters.

It means that 9.9 per cent of P1 kids are facing obesity – compared to 9.5 per cent last year.

However, the statistics for South Lanarkshire are below the Scottish average.

Across the country, 10.2 per cent of primary one pupils are at risk of obesity – remaining stable from the previous year.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) of 2863 children of primary one age was looked at across the South Lanarkshire area, compared to 3252 the previous year.

Marc Conroy, NHS Lanarkshire’s health improvement senior for child healthy weight, said: “Encouraging children and young people to adopt more active lifestyles and healthier diets continues to be a key priority for NHS Lanarkshire and our partners.

“It is also a central tenet of the Lanarkshire Healthy Weight Strategy, which is a multi-agency approach to tackle the significant influences on weight within our communities.

“Among the strategy’s many actions is a commitment by all the partners to implement active play and promote healthy eating and working.”

The latest figures for 2018/19 were released by Information Services Division Scotland, a part of NHS Scotland which provides health service data used in planning.

Statistics showed that 1.5 per cent (44) of South Lanarkshire’s P1 pupils were at risk of being underweight – up from 0.9 per cent the previous year.

The percentage of children who had a healthy weight was 76.4 (2186) – down from 77 per cent.

Another 12.2 per cent (349) were at risk of being overweight – a drop from 12.6 per cent.

And 9.9 per cent (284) were facing obesity – up from 9.5 per cent.

Mr Conroy added: “The number of P1s who are obese or severely obese has been fluctuating for a number of years, which highlights that a great deal of work still requires to be done.

“To this end, we continue to have a package of support programmes which are based on a sustainable approach to the long-term prevention of unhealthy weight gain in childhood.

“These aim to support children and their families to make positive lifestyle choices related to food and exercise which will help them to achieve and maintain a healthy weight status now and into adulthood.

“This includes programmes which support maternal weight during and after pregnancy, as this supports positive child health outcomes, including healthy weight.

“As well as the wide range of supports already in place, we also have Full of Beans groups running throughout South Lanarkshire, which are free pre-school healthy eating/active play/healthy lifestyle groups for children and families.

“We would encourage parents to take advantage of these programmes.”

In neighbouring North Lanarkshire, where 3625 youngsters were surveyed, statistics showed that 1.5 per cent (53) of P1 pupils were at risk of being underweight – down from 2.5 per cent the previous year.

The percentage of children who had a healthy weight was 74.2 (2691) – down from 76 per cent.

Another 12.2 per cent (442) were at risk of being overweight – a rise from 10.6 per cent.

And 12.1 per cent (439) were facing obesity – up from 10.9 per cent.