Child obesity levels falling (From The Advertiser Series)

Child obesity levels falling

10:37am Thursday 2nd July 2009

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CHILD obesity levels in Darlington have dropped for the first time since a project was launched to improve the health of the town.

Schoolchildren in reception classes and Year 6 have been measured for the past three years to record the number who are overweight or obese.

Data for the 2007-8 school year just released showed that the number of obese children at both levels had fallen since last year.

At reception level, where children are aged four or five, ten per cent of children were obese. Last year, the figure was 10.7 per cent and in the first year it was 10.1 per cent.

More than double the number at Year 6, ages ten and 11, are obese. The current figures show that 20.4 per cent were obese, lower than the 21 per cent figure in 2006-7, but higher than the 20.1 per cent level of the previous year.

The percentage of children who are overweight was 13.5 per cent in reception classes and 13.9 per cent in Year 6. Both figures have continued to fall in the three years for which records exist. Across the town, less than one in every 100 children at both age ranges is underweight.

About three in four children in reception classes are normal weight, but the figure drops to two in three in Year 6. The figures have been assessed as part of a Government drive to tackle obesity, although Darlington has recorded data for longer than the equivalent national averages.

A strategy has also been drafted for Darlington to prevent obesity and promote physical activity.

A report to be discussed at this week’s children and young people scrutiny committee said: “The draft strategy highlights the problem of obesity in children and what needs to be done in Darlington to prevent obesity and to develop services to treat obesity.

“It is anticipated that the local action plan will provide the opportunity to deliver and monitor services to address childhood obesity in Darlington.”

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