At least one in every three 4-year-olds in Ireland is now overweight, a study has suggested.
The data, which presents for the first time the tendency towards obesity in very young children, comes from an all-Ireland study of 18,000 children.
The height and weight of all the children, aged between 4 and 16, was measured as part of the research which was co-ordinated from University College Cork.
The preliminary findings indicate there are more overweight boys than girls in the four, five and six year-old age groups.
Up to 35 per cent of 4-year-old boys were found to be overweight, compared to just 28 per cent of 4-year-old girls. However, by age seven, slightly more girls than boys were found to be overweight. The figures indicate some 30 per cent of boys and 31 per cent of girls in this age group are overweight.
When obesity levels were looked at, the study found 15 per cent of 4-year-old boys and 12 per cent of 4-year-old girls are obese. Similar levels of obesity were found in 5-year-olds.
Some 19 per cent of boys and 17 per cent of girls in the 8-year-old age group were obese and one-fifth of 9, 11 and 12-year-old boys were found to be obese.
"We can see the future of the obesity epidemic here in front of our eyes," Prof Ivan Perry, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College Cork, who presented the data to a conference organised by the Royal Irish Academy and the Irish Council for Bioethics in Dublin yesterday, said of the figures. When asked why such young children were overweight and obese, he said it was because their environment was saturated with calories.
The challenge was trying to address that. Individuals couldn't address the problem on their own. Communities had to take responsibility, he said.
He would support a ban on TV advertisements for high-calorie snack foods and drinks at times when under 10-year-olds were watching television.
The National Health and Lifestyle studies published every four years include details of the eating habits of school-going children aged 10 and upwards only.
The study gives the first insight into the eating habits of very young children. The data was collected during a nationwide survey of children's oral health in 2001 and 2002