One in 3 children being caught in the obesity trap
Screen time and skipping breakfast are blamed
MORE than a third of Scottish ten-year-olds are now considered overweight or obese – with experts warning the true rate could be even higher.
Some 34 per cent are overweight by this age, including 19 per cent who are obese, an official report shows.
But researchers fear the level could be far worse and that more than 100,000 young Scots would be labelled obese if better methods to measure the scale of the problem were used.
The figures are contained in two separate reports published yesterday which highlight the extent of Scotland’s escalating crisis. The Scottish Government’s Growing Up
Sc2ot0lan1d aEn iNncreDasing in number of youngsters becoming overweight as they get older.
At age six, a quarter of children are overweight but this increases to 34 per cent by the age of ten. Risk factors include spending longer on screens and not eating breakfast regularly.
The authors, ScotCen Social Research, warn that many parents fail to recognise that their child is overweight.
It found ‘mother’s obesity, frequency of unhealthy snacks and low parental supervision’ to be risk factors for child obesity as well as ‘a home environment which facilitates higher levels of inactivity’.
‘Poor parental recognition of child obesity may also be problematic,’ the report adds. ‘The findings suggest that many parents are ill-informed or find overweight hard to recognise, a sensitive issue to address.’
A separate report warns that current methods of measuring weight could be underestimating the scale of the problem by as much as half. Its authors routinely used to assess children’s warn 34 per cent of ten-year-olds weight for national records, such are more likely to be obese than as the Growing Up in Scotland overweight, with many more falling study. into the latter category. But the researchers said using
Experts at the University of an alternative test would provide Strathclyde say there are ‘large a ‘far more accurate picture of the numbers of children and adolescents’ scale of the problem’. whose weight is apparently They said a method known as healthy when their Body Mass the ‘deuterium dilution measure’ Index (BMI) is calculated but – where excessive fatness is who, despite this, have ‘an excessively measured by the total amount of high body fat content’. water in the body – is more accurate.
BMI – which is based on height The actual prevalence of and weight – is the measure obesity might be as high as double the current estimates made based on BMI, the researchers say.
However, they said the alternative method would be ‘more costly’ to use, with more time needed to carry out the tests.
Professor John Reilly of Strathclyde’s School of Psychological Sciences and Health said: ‘BMI is a straightforward and costeffective way of measuring obesity in children but it is a very crude proxy measure.
‘Large numbers of children and adolescents with an apparently healthy BMI for their age have an excessively high body fat content.
‘Childhood obesity is at least twice as prevalent as reported in national surveys and official publications – in fact, more than 100,000 Scottish children and young people will have obesity at present.
‘The deuterium dilution measure would be more costly and would take longer, but it would present us with a far more accurate picture of the scale of the problem.
‘We would get a more accurate estimate of prevalence of obesity if we used the current overweight definition, so in the case of the Growing Up in Scotland data 34 per cent will be reasonably close to the true prevalence of obesity.
Professor Reilly spoke out as the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance (AHKGA) report, which assesses trends in childhood physical activity in 49 countries was published.
It gave Scotland a D plus rating – placing the country in the lower half of the rankings.
Slovenia had the best ranking of any of the nations, with a B, while England was given a C overall.
Scotland’s ranking however was better than the USA which was awarded a D, while China was given a D minus.
While Scotland scored a B for organised sport and physical activity, it was given an F for high levels of sedentary behaviour amongst youngsters.
Prof Reilly continued: ‘There is no longer any room for complacency about childhood obesity anywhere in the world – urgent measures will be required to prevent and control the problem.’ The AHKGA report found increasing time in front of screens, and more and more tasks becoming automated, had contributed to the global obesity problem.
Professor Steve Turner, Officer for Scotland for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said: ‘Losing or maintaining a healthy weight whatever your age is tough and the publication of today’s new report well documents this.
‘Urgent changes to the nation’s lifestyle are required.’
Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said: ‘The consequences of an unhealthy diet and physical inactivity are among the most serious public health issues facing many countries.
‘We are aiming to halve childhood obesity by 2030 through a range of measures designed to help people make healthier choices, including proposals to restrict in-store promotions and marketing of food that is high in fat, sugar or salt but with little or no nutritional benefit.
‘Already, children in two-thirds of primary schools take part in the daily mile and 99 per cent of schools are delivering at least two hours of PE every week.’
‘Changes to the nation’s lifestyle’