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41% of Feltham kids are too fat

Posted by Ed Saunt on Aug 4, 09 03:23 PM in Health

Forty-one percent of 11-year-olds in Feltham and Bedfont are overweight and in some schools more than a quarter of children are clinically obese, a study has revealed.

The figures presented to Hounslow councillors last week were described by one
expert as 'frightening'. He warned childhood obesity in the borough was a 'time bomb waiting to explode'.

A measurement programme of Year 6 pupils found that 41% of Feltham and Bedfont schoolchildren are overweight or obese - compared with 33% nationally - while 30% of local Reception age pupils were overweight - against the 23% national average.

Health bosses pledged to set up a specialist child obesity clinic at Feltham Health Centre but David Cahill, chairman of the Hounslow branch of Diabetes UK which target schools with the biggest obesity problems, said work needed to begin in the home.

"When you think about it that's a frightening rate of obesity. In the long run these kids are going to develop serious health problems. It's a time bomb waiting to explode," he said.

"It's all very well Jamie Oliver coming along and giving them healthy eating at school but if the kids get fed junk food by mums and dads and they are not encouraged to do exercise this is what is going to happen."

In 2007 treating obesity and related diseases cost NHS Hounslow £61m and this figure is predicted to rise to £68m by 2015.

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