Third of Scottish kids overweight
Poor diet and lack of exercise blamed for problem
SCOTLAND’S children are getting fatter with almost a third of them overweight.
According to the latest Scottish Health Survey released yesterday, 30 per cent are now in the overweight bracket – two per cent more than the year before – with 16 per cent at risk of obesity.
Eleven per cent of all two to six-year-olds are now overweight as are a staggering 21 per cent – more than one in five – of those aged 12-15.
It is not only children who have a weight problem with 65 per cent of the adult population now overweight – including 28 per cent who are obese. A poor diet and lack of physical activity has caused the problem to escalate.
The survey shows just 15 per cent of children have five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
It also shows almost a third of adults eat biscuits at least once a day and 34 per cent eat cakes two or more times a week.
Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s cancer prevention expert at Edinburgh University, said: “Obesity is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking so this report, which holds a mirror up to the health of the nation, paints a bleak picture.”
Lib Dem health brief Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “These figures show the urgent need to make a transformative investment in mental health and for public health interventions on the scale of the smoking ban, only this time focusing on Scotland’s poor diet and lack of activity.”
The Scottish Government said: “Last year we published a comprehensive Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan setting out a wide range of actions to support people to eat well and have a healthy weight.
“This includes our ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030, our investment of £42million in weight management services for those with, or at risk of type 2 diabetes, and proposals to restrict in-store promotion and marketing of foods high in fat, sugar or salt with little or no nutritional benefit.”