A third of children aged 10 or 11 are overweight, study finds

London, December 13: Obesity is gripping nearly a third of children in UK, official report suggests. This is despite continuous attempts of the government to bring the epidemic under control.

One in three children aged 10 or 11 are obese by the time they reach secondary school, reveal the findings from the NHS Information Centre.

Critics felt that government’s anti-obesity drive has failed to derive positive results and feared of a bleak future for kids when they grow up. Obesity puts them at an increased risk of cancerdefine, diabetes and heart disease later on.

NHS Information Centre chief executive, Tim Straughan, said: ‘Obesity is one of the biggest threats to the health of our nation and it is of huge concern that the problem is afflicting so many children and at such an early age.’

Tam Fry, a spokesman for National Obesity Forum said: “We had high hopes that there would have been a marked improvement after all the money that is being thrown at the problem but it seems that more radical measures will be needed to reduce obesity levels.”

Tam felt it was ‘horrifying’ that obesity levels at year six (age 10 and 11) were so much higher than at reception class (age four and five) which he felt, halted the measures of the government to the ground.

“The Government's much vaunted healthy schools policy and other measures are obviously not working, or very slow to get off the ground,” he said.

The data forms part of the National Child Measurement Programme which measured the weight of almost a million children that participated in 2007/08 programme.

Public health minister, Dawn Primarolo, remarked: “Obesity is one of the biggest public health challenges we face. If we do nothing, 90 per cent of today's children could be overweight or obese by 2050, leaving them at risk from serious illnesses such as heart disease or diabetes.”

Although there has been an increase in the number of eligible children who took part in the 2007/08 programme, there are many obese children who ‘opt out’ of the programme which fails the efforts, feel the campaigners.

This year, 88 percent of those eligible were weighed as against the last year’s programme, which measures the weight of children in English primary schools, in which 80 percent eligible kids participated.

Dawn continued saying, “These figures show that there are still too many children who are overweight and obese - that's why we're supporting families to lead healthier lives.”

Experts from University College London fear nearly 13 million men and women will reach obesity levels by 2012, the year when Britain hosts the Olympics.