Too fat aged 4: How one in 10 pupils starting school is obese
CHILDREN as young as four are dangerously overweight, with one Scots youngster in ten found to be obese on entering primary school.
Official figures show Scottish youngsters are more likely to be extremely overweight when they start school than their counterparts in England.
According to Information Services Division Scotland (ISDS), almost a quarter of children in primary 1 were overweight or obese in 2014-15, putting them at risk of diabetes and heart disease in later life.
Despite the child obesity rate in 2014-15 being lower than the previous year, it has remained stubbornly high for a decade.
Clothes shops have even introduced plussize school uniforms to fit heavier pupils.
Campaign group Obesity Action Scotland said that obese children were more likely to be ill, off sick from school, experience healthrelated limitations and require more medical care than those of normal weight. Spokesman Lorraine Tulloch said: ‘We cannot be complacent. Childhood obesity is a ticking time bomb that puts children at risk of future health issues such as type 2 diabetes.
‘We need to do much more to reduce childhood obesity and we must urgently improve the diet of Scottish children.’
According to ISDS, standard health checks on children starting school showed 1.1 per cent were underweight in 2014-15.
But 21.8 per cent were overweight or obese, with almost half of them in the latter, more risky weight category. The official report on the figures warns that child obesity can cause osteoarthritis, back pain, depression and low self-esteem later in life
The 9.8 per cent of children who are obese are mainly four and five-year-olds, although they include a smaller number aged six who started school later. The English figure for children aged four and five is 9.1 per cent.
Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said: ‘ Early intervention has got to be the order of the day. The problem is that we have many parents who don’t really understand how to raise their children in a healthy way.’
Lib Dem health spokesman Jim Hume said: ‘Children who experience weight problems grow up into adults experiencing weight problems and the strain this puts on our NHS is clear.’
While adults are judged obese if their body mass index BMI is above 30, children are measured against others of their age and sex. If they are overweight, a letter may be sent to their parents giving advice on healthy eating and exercise.
The Scottish Government said last night that the proportion of primary 1 children at a healthy weight increased from 76.4 per cent in 2013-14 to 77.1 per cent last year. Public Health Minister Maureen Watt said: ‘It’s encouraging to see that the percentage of healthy weight children has increased since last year, and those at risk of being overweight has decreased. We will continue to take action on a range of fronts to continue this trend and reduce childhood obesity further.’
Miss Watt said the Government’s Eat Better Feel Better programme encourages healthy eating, adding: ‘There has been an increase in the proportion of children doing two hours or periods of PE from less than 10 per cent in 2004-05 to 98 per cent in 2015.’