Four in 10 Year 6 pupils in Tower Hamlets overweight or obese
Obesity levels among Year 6 pupils in the past five years. Picture: Radar - Credit: Radar
Tower Hamlets has one of the highest levels of obesity among Year 6 pupils in England, with more than four in 10 an unhealthy weight.
Public health groups urged the Government to take further action to prevent youngsters consuming junk food and sugary drinks, as the level of severe obesity hit a record high across England.
NHS Digital figures show more than one in four children that finished primary school in Tower Hamlets in 2017-18 were obese, and of which 5.4pc were severely obese.
Additionally, 15pc of Year 6 children were overweight.
That means 42pc of Tower Hamlets’s youngsters are unhealthily overweight when they finish primary school.
You may also want to watch:
Across England, 4.2pc of 10 and 11-year-olds are severely obese, a record high.
Caroline Cerny, of the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of leading health charities, medical royal colleges and campaign groups, said “we can do something about this”.
Most Read
- 1 Tribute to 7th Barts Health Trust worker to die of Covid-19
- 2 Airbnb house party violence leaves police officer with broken finger
- 3 Teenager found dead in Victoria Park
- 4 Drug and alcohol abuse by Tower Hamlets parents and children soars
- 5 Driver arrested after police 'drugs patrol' stops car in Whitechapel
- 6 'We need laptops for lockdown children to learn from home’ Tower Hamlets mayor urges
- 7 Disgraceful management of the pandemic
- 8 Two in five people in Tower Hamlets may have had Covid-19
- 9 Post deliveries in east London hit by Covid crisis among Royal Mail staff
She explained: “The ever increasing number of children living with obesity is a clear reflection of the unhealthy wider environment that pushes us towards sugary and fatty food and drinks.”
Each year officials measure the height and weight of more than one million children, in Reception and Year 6, to assess childhood obesity.
Obesity can lead to heart problems and type 2 diabetes later in life, as well as psychological issues such as low self-esteem and depression.
The data shows that children often develop weight problems while at primary school.
In 2017-18, 11pc of Tower Hamlets’s children were obese in Reception.
Across England one in five pupils in Year 6 was obese. Children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds were more than twice as likely to be obese than those from the wealthiest areas.
Public health minister Steve Brine said: “Obesity is a problem that has been decades in the making – one that will take significant effort across government, schools, families and wider society to address.
“We cannot expect to see a reversal in trends overnight – but we have been clear that we are willing to do whatever it takes to keep children healthy and well in this country.”