Almost a quarter of children are overweight or obese by the time they start primary school, and more than a third are by the time they leave, new NHS statistics revealtoday. The data, based on measuring the height and weight of more than a million pupils in England, underlines the extent and continued growth of childhood obesity. Health experts are calling for renewed government action to tackle the problem.
Around 9.8% of four and five-year-olds are classed as obese when they arrive in reception class, according to the latest annual figures from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). But by the time they reach 10 to 11 and are in year 6, their final year, that has almost doubled to 18.7%, says a report today from the NHS Information Centre, which gives the NCMP findings for 2009-10.
Almost one in four reception pupils is either overweight or obese – 23.1% – while among year 6 children the figure is 33.4% – more than a third. Both figures are only slightly up on last year, when the equivalent figures were 22.8% and 32.6%, but they underline the rise in the number of young children with weight problems.
The figures contradict claims by health ministers in the last government that childhood obesity was levelling off and that initiatives such as healthier school lunches, free fruit in classrooms and growing participation in PE were having an effect.
"Government assurances last year that childhood obesity levels were levelling off have been found to be sadly wanting. Any hope that Whitehall may have had for a quick fix to the epidemic has been shattered by today's figures," said Tam Fry, chairman of the Child Growth Foundation and spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, which represents doctors, nurses and dieticians involved in obesity.
"The fact that obesity doubles during the primary school years from reception year shows that the Department of Education must rethink its recent proposals on school dinners and physical activity.
"The Department of Health should also be ashamed that a quarter of our children arrive at primary school overweight or obese. Until its policies allow all UK four-year-olds to arrive at school with a healthy weight, obesity rates will continue to spiral."
Some experts fear that the true prevalence of childhood obesity may be even worse, because some of the 9% of children who did not take part were not measured because their parents did not want their offspring's serious obesity to be identified.
The NCMP measures the height and weight of children in reception class and year 6 in primary schools in England to establish how many pupils are classed as "underweight", "healthy weight", "overweight" and "obese". The figures give a fairly accurate picture, because 91% of all eligible pupils – over one million in all – took part last year, the largest number ever.
Tim Straughan, chief executive of the NHS Information Centre, said: "The study suggests that weight problems continue to be far worse for older children than for younger children, with one in three year 6 pupils being either overweight or obese and nearly one in five obese. These statistics suggest that more needs to be done at a younger age to combat obesity within primary education and to positively encourage healthy eating and participation in physical activity, to reduce future health implications for these children."
Paul Sacher, a paediatric dietician and co-founder of Mend, a social enterprise that provides healthy lifestyle programmes for children across the UK, said the new data showed yet again that there is a "childhood obesity crisis", which is worsening.
"It's extremely concerning that childhood obesity is on the increase and action must be taken to reverse this worrying trend," said Sacher. "With nearly one in three children overweight or obese in the UK, more needs to be done to protect the health of our nation's children and avoid the unnecessary short- and long-term financial burden of child obesity on the NHS at this critical time. We hope that these figures will urge the government to invest in further healthy living programmes, as a solution to the childhood obesity crisis."
Dr Helen Walters of the UK Faculty of Public Health said the small year-on-year increases "indicate that we are halting the rise [in childhood obesity]. But the situation will take decades to sort out and, as it stands, the picture remains bleak. A lot needs to be done: children all across the country need access to safe outdoor places to play sports in, opportunities for safe active travel such as cycling or walking to school, and access to a good diet through healthy school meals and availability of cheap fruit and vegetables."
