Children get weight problems earlier - survey

Children are developing weight problems at an earlier stage in their development, a new survey of childhood health in the west has found.

The findings reveal that over a quarter of infant children in primary schools in Co Mayo are either obese or overweight.

The study found that 27 per cent of all children studied had such problems, compared with a European average of less than 20 per cent among the five to 17-year-old age group.

The research was conducted by Dr Marita Glackin, public health medicine specialist, and Dr David Evans, senior researcher with the public health department at HSE west. It found that girls were more prone than boys to weight gain. However, it found that the high-risk group involved six-year-old boys whose families held medical cards.

The research was conducted during routine school health checks during the 2004-2005 academic year.

If gathered routinely, this information could contribute to a national database on growth measurements, according to the authors. Such a database has been recommended by the taskforce on obesity, which presented a report last year on the issue.

It recommends the development of standard intervention programmes to prevent "adult morbidities" developing in children, if weight and height details do become part of standardised school health checks. The body mass index is a valuable public health indicator for monitoring childhood overweight and obesity, the authors state.

Obese children are twice as likely to become obese adults and will have a much higher risk of contracting debilitating diseases, including heart problems, hypertension, diabetes and cancer, according to medical research.

The authors note that the research programme has already raised awareness among teachers.

School "healthy eating" policies are being reviewed and "the issue of the parents becoming more aware and recognising that their child is overweight or obese needs also to be considered".